The Second Realm
by Vanilla Crystal
Summary: First Draco fic... When Draco goes to Camp Arbez, he embarks on the adventure of his life. Draco travels through a portal to a magical land about to go to war. Will Draco be able to survive and still return home?
1. Camp Arbez

The Second Realm

Disclaimer: Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, etc. belong to JK Rowling. The rest belongs to me.

A/N: Thanks go out to: Dana, for giving me encouragement and suggestions, Dallas, for reading it, and to Lyddie, for giving me the wonderful title to use! Caroline, thank you for waiting so long! And thanks to the members of the HPFWA for giving me suggestions and help.

The Second Realm

Chapter One: Camp Arbez

Lucius Malfoy glared at his young son Draco.

"I'm disappointed in you, Draco," Lucius snarled. "Malfoys are not supposed to be helping others for no apparent reason, and yet you had to give money to a Muggle bum! Why?"

"Father, he was bleeding. His eyes looked so pitiful," Draco explained. "I couldn't help it," he added miserably.

"You very well could help it! Just because of that, I found a wizard camp where you will learn discipline," Lucius said, glaring menacingly. "And if you still do things out of line, I will punish you more severely."

"Yes, Father," Draco said stiffly.

"You are dismissed," Lucius replied. Draco left the room, his heart heavy. What was going to happen to him at the camp? He could only wait and see.

__

A few weeks later…

Draco stepped out of the carriage, nodded to his servant, Timothy Orangethorpe, and sighed as he looked at the camp. The camp appeared to be slightly run-down and made out of wood. Draco groaned inwardly. He could tell he was going to hate it already. His thoughts interrupted (and mind you, they were not nice) when a crowd passed, walking around him. They pushed their way, jarring him from side to side. Draco dusted himself off after the crowd had passed. Stupid Mudbloods, Draco thought angrily, but it was only because of the crowd's rude behavior.

Then he saw a man with a whistle around his next and a large pointed hat that magically projected the words Counselor Bowers. Draco realized he ought to go to him, so he picked up his two suitcases (one filled with the shabbiest of his dress robes, as Draco did not want to dirty his finest). He stood next to a boy who was tall with dark brown hair. On Draco's other side stood a boy with bright red hair ("Like Weasley," Draco thought, sneering) who was taller than Draco was, as Draco was short. Now, since the only red-haired boy Draco had contact with was Ron Weasley, he naturally assumed that the boy had a large family with hardly any money. Later, as Draco found out, his stereotype was not correct. To Draco's utmost surprise, the brown-haired boy caught his gaze and smiled good naturally. Draco reacted quickly, due to his quick reflexes, for he played Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team. He tried to smile, but the most he could smile was a weak grin with only the edges of his mouth turned up. Draco never had anyone smile at him, or had to smile at anyone himself. He also never really had a friend in his entire life. In reality, he did have Crabbe and Goyle hanging around him all the time, but they could not hold an intelligent thought to save their lives. Just then, Counselor Bowers cleared his throat, making Draco turn his head to look at the man.

"Welcome to our wonderful camp, Camp Arbez," Counselor Bowers said. Draco coughed loudly, hiding a laugh. Wonderful? If this was wonderful, he did not want to see what awful was.

"Hear! Hear!" The brown-haired boy said, grinning. Draco looked at him, surprised. Counselor Bowers just smiled at him.

"Thank you, Julian," Bowers said. "Please listen carefully as I call out your name and number. The number you get will be the number of the cabin. So… Here goes." Draco fidgeted nervously as Counselor Bowers called out the names of the students and the numbers. Draco was reminded of the Sorting Ceremony, which had the hat calling the names. Someone shouted Julian's name, shattering Draco's thoughts.

"Yeah! That's me," Julian shouted enthusiastically. Julian's eyes bore into the face of Bowers. Draco could not help snickering, as the expression on Julian's face resembled that of a dunce.

"Julian Earlingston," Bowers said loudly, glancing at the brown-haired boy. "Cabin 4," he added, seeing Julian's face light up. Julian whooped, making the campers around him laugh. Draco naturally kept silent. Time went by, sorting different campers into different cabins when it was Draco's turn. 

"Draco Malfoy," Bowers announced. "Cabin 4." Draco shivered slightly, wondering what it would be like with Julian Earlingston in the same cabin. After a while, Cisalpine Perasat, Cassius Samson, the red-haired boy Draco saw earlier was Alexander Thespian, and Benjamin Frost joined cabin four. The cabin 4 group came together, all boys in the group wary except for Julian. In fact, he seemed to be unafraid, and immediately grinned.

"So, we're in cabin 4, eh? All right, just follow me," Julian insisted, and turned around to walk in the direction of the cabin. Draco followed, carrying his two somewhat light suitcases. They arrived to find a wooden cabin with a squeaky door. No surprise there, Draco thought gloomily as they stepped inside. Then what happened next was pure chaos. Cisalpine, Cassius, Alexander, and Benjamin rushed to get the best bunk. Alexander grinned as he plopped his things down on a lower bed, while Cassius threw his possessions above Alexander. The rest of the boys chose their beds accordingly. That left one bunk bed for Julian and Draco. Draco could not believe he had such horrible conditions. Either bed will surely hurt my posture, Draco mused. 

"I get the top bed," Draco said flatly, placing his suitcases on the bed daintily. Julian sat down on the lower bed and sighed. It seemed as though he was worn out.

"What's wrong?" Cisalpine asked while unrolling his sleeping bag. "Long trip?"

"No, that's not it," Julian replied wearily. "It's just that I wonder what Mum and Dad are doing. Probably going off, having loads of fun, lots of parties. All they want is to get me out of the house," Julian added, resting his head on the mattress. Draco almost felt sorry for Julian. Of course, that was the same way as his parents. They probably wanted him out of the house so they could have business meetings and the like. Draco thought that he should say something.

"I know how you feel," Draco muttered. Julian looked at him curiously.

"What did you say?" Julian asked. Draco readjusted his cloak and tried again.

"I know how you feel," Draco said loudly. Julian's look softened slightly, and he got off the mattress to pat Draco on the shoulder. Draco moved away slightly. He did not want any sympathy. 

"Don't you hate it when parents do that?" Julian asked, sighing. "It seems like parents don't love their children any more these days." Draco nodded glumly.

"Cheer up, you two," said Alexander. "We're not going to survive this camp if we're not going to be happy." Alexander brushed the sweat-soaked hair away from his forehead and grinned. Julian returned the grin. Draco just stood there numbly.

"This is going to be fun," snickered Julian. "I'll teach you guys the ropes." Cassius, Cisalpine, Alexander, and Benjamin whooped. Draco wondered half-heartedly what Julian could possibly teach him. The boys rushed out the cabin door, and Draco, not wanting to be left in the cabin alone, walked quickly after them.

"All r-i-i-ight!" Cassius yelled, running happily through the mossy green forest. Julian was the leader, running as fast as he could. Cisalpine, Alexander, and Benjamin followed closely behind him. Draco was far behind, becoming wearier and wearier. He had hardly ever run this fast for this long.

"Julian, where are you taking us?" Alexander shouted, panting a little.

"You'll see! It's the coolest place in the world," Julian yelled back, jumping over a fallen tree trunk. The boys continued running, but with less zest and zeal because they were getting tired. Draco wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. His lungs would surely burst eventually. Finally, Julian stopped. His fellow companions stopped running and caught their breath.

"Why are we stopping?" Draco asked, annoyed. They had not come to any place particularly exciting, only seeing a tall bush and some trees.

"Because we're there," Julian replied simply. He pulled back the leaves of the bush to reveal a waterfall and a lake. Draco gasped quietly. He had never seen a waterfall like this before. It was enchanting, and it had a small bit of sand at the left edge of the lake.

"Wow," Benjamin choked. Everyone stood with their mouths agape except for Julian and Draco. Julian had already seen the waterfall before, and Draco remembered that he had improper etiquette if he stood with his mouth open so flies could come in it.

"Let's go swimming!" Julian shouted happily. His comment was answered by an excited "Yes!" from three of his companions.

"But Julian, aren't we supposed to go to the Dining Hall? We could get in serious trouble," Cisalpine said worriedly. Julian shrugged it off.

"Ah you are such a sissy, Cisalpine," Julian replied. "I know that we're supposed to go to the Dining Hall, but it's such a lovely day. We're going to have no time whatsoever to swim, so we'd better do it now." Cisalpine's frown slowly turned into a smile, and he started to take off his clothes, leaving only his boxers.

"Guys, you're very slow. Look at me, I was ready long before you," Cassius said impatiently. Soon everyone was in his boxers except for Draco. He stood in astonishment, because he could not believe that he was with people who actually changed in front of one another…and felt comfortable with it! 

"Blimey, Cassius, don't be so impatient," Alexander said. "We're nearly ready." Draco was thinking quickly. Should he disregard the orders of Bowers and go swimming, or should he go to the Dining Hall and be bored? The more Draco mulled it over, the more he wanted to go swimming. So he took off his clothes, left his boxers on, and stepped into the lake. It was freezing, but Draco did not show any sign of emotion. Instead, he went under water to swim a bit. The cold water immediately refreshed him, and he stood up quickly, cursing himself silently. Smooth move, Malfoy, Draco thought bitterly. I managed to get myself cold, and shivering like a daft person. He stood shivering until Julian and Alexander came over.

"A little cold, Draco?" Julian said, grinning.

"Of course not. Why would you think that?" Draco asked sourly. 

"For one thing, you're shivering like mad. That's always a giveaway," Julian replied, chuckling.

"Yeah, really. You need to be constantly moving, though. That way, you will not get as cold," Alexander advised. Draco hesitantly swam to the deeper end of the lake and treaded water for a while, which helped him immensely. 

"That's the spirit!" Julian called, and Draco scowled. Alexander swam over to the spot where Draco was treading water. 

"Draco, I'll race you to the edge of the lake," Alexander challenged. Draco, not being a person to refuse a challenge, agreed. At the count of three, which Julian said, Alexander and Draco began swimming. Draco willed his legs to kick faster, and his arms to propel him further. He opened his eyes underwater and saw that the edge of the lake was coming. When Draco got to the edge of the lake, he found that the water was shallow, so he stood up quickly. He noticed that Alexander was right next to him, breathing heavily. He turned to Draco and grinned.

"Alexander! Draco! And it's a tie," Julian announced, and Alexander and Draco both stared at him.

"A tie? How is that so?" Draco asked in disbelief. Alexander looked shocked.

"I thought I would be first," he admitted aloud. Draco shook his head.

"I'm very sure I was first," Draco retorted sharply. He certainly did not want to come in second just because everyone thought it was a tie.

"Yes, I think you're right. You did come in first," Alexander said meagerly. Instead of being proud and thinking that he was the best, Draco was only slightly satisfied. With a jolt, he realized that Alexander was being nice by saying that Draco came in first.

"No, Alexander. I saw you standing when I first stood up," Draco amended. Alexander appeared puzzled.

"You did come in first, I know it. You-" Alexander began.

"I don't want to hear it," Draco interrupted quickly. "That's all there is to it. If you don't believe me, I'll hex you." Alexander broke into a large grin and patted Draco on the back.

"You're a good chap," Alexander said. "I didn't believe it at first, but you're a good bloke." Draco looked at Alexander curiously, and then did something that surprised himself. He smiled. Alexander smiled back. From then on, Draco felt a close bond between Alexander and himself. 

"How touching," Julian said, chuckling. "But, honestly, we'd better get back to the camp or we are going to get into trouble. Not that's a problem, mind you." Everyone laughed, including Draco, and they hurried to get their clothes back on themselves. Hair dripping, but heart full of mirth, Draco ran with Julian and the others to the camp.

"Attention! Everyone, please sit down," Counsellor Bowers ordered, and the campers did so. "When I announce a table, you will go to the front of the dining room to get your food. When you are done, return to the front to place your dishes in the proper places so they will be washed."

"He's a pain in the neck," Julian whispered to Draco, and Draco nodded. He could certainly see that Bowers was, indeed, a wet blanket. Julian, Draco, and Alexander were sitting at one particular table, but their roommates (Cassius, Cisalpine, and Benjamin) sat at another table. The three boys waited patiently for their table to be called, but to their dismay, their table was nearly last.

"Stupid Bowers," Alexander grumbled. They went up to the front of the dining room, and saw what the meal was. It turned out only to be hamburgers and French fries, a tasty Muggle dish. Draco, having the finest food the wizard markets could supply, had rarely tried Muggle food, and so did not know what "hamburgers" or "French fries" were.

"Hamburgers…delicious," Julian breathed. "I can't wait to eat them."

"What do they taste like?" Draco asked, hesitant to try the hamburgers.

"Like beef," Alexander said. "That's what it is, after all."

"How quaint," Draco replied stiffly. "I suppose I will try them."

"It's not as if we have much of a choice," Julian said, sighing. "I hate the camp food too, Draco, so you are not alone."

"Here, would you like one or two?" Draco asked, trying to be pleasant. In fact, it was probably the friendliest gesture he had ever made. He was immensely disgusted with himself.

"One, thanks," Julian replied. Draco placed a hamburger on Julian's plate gingerly, and then took one for himself. Alexander, who was in front of Draco and Julian, had already taken his hamburger and was getting himself a drink. Next, Draco took a spoonful of the light, yellow, fluffy sticks, hoping that they would be somewhat tasty. Julian, being extremely hungry for the French fries, took as many French fries as his plate would allow. Draco snickered.

"Hungry, Earlingston?" Draco teased. Julian appeared to be abashed.

"Earlingston? I prefer to be called Julian, if you don't mind," Julian retorted. Draco was shocked.

"Yes, as you wish," Draco said quickly and politely. 

"I take it you often call people by their surname," Julian mused. Draco merely shrugged, and took some utensils, walking to the drink table. Alexander was waiting for them, looking purely bored.

"It took you long enough," Alexander said impatiently.

"We were talking. Don't become frantic, Alexander," Draco replied

"All right, I guess I forgive you," Alexander replied cheerfully, and walked back to their table. Draco and Julian followed, and sat down next to each other. Draco decided that he actually had a friend, two friends in fact. At least they are better friends than Crabbe and Goyle, Draco thought.

"What schools do you two go to?" Julian asked. "I go to Kelick Institution."

"I go to Pickforth's Academy for Young Men," Alexander said. "Doesn't the name hit you right here?" Alexander added, putting his hands over his heart.

"It's inspirational," Julian replied simply. "How about you, Draco?" Draco took a bite of his hamburger, chewed, and swallowed before he spoke.

"I attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Draco said, looking at his companions' faces. Both were shocked.

"Hogwarts?" Alexander exclaimed, dropping the fry he was holding.

"You actually go there?" Julian asked.

"Yes, I do," Draco said cautiously. "I'd rather you not talk about it too often, though. I hear that people think Hogwarts' pupils are ill-mannered and wild, but it is not true." Julian and Alexander nodded.

"I understand. In fact, some people think I'm ill-mannered, but that's not true either," Julian remarked. "I mind my manners when I am eating, and at formal occasions."

"Same with me," Alexander said. "I just remembered, I ought to do something before I forget." Alexander bolted out of the dining room, to the cabin no doubt. It was a while later when he returned.

"Welcome back," Julian greeted him. Draco noticed that Julian did not ask where Alexander had gone. 

"How kind of you to join us again," Draco said as a joke. (That is a joke?) Alexander recognised the joke and smiled.

"Thanks. You know what?" Alexander said, looking at both Draco and Julian.

"What?" Julian replied.

"When I came to this camp I thought I wouldn't make any friends," Alexander admitted. "But now it's all right."

"Same with me," Julian said, grinning.

"Have we all finished eating?" Draco wondered. 

"Yeah, we are," Julian replied. "Why do you ask?" Julian gazed at Draco curiously. Draco smiled.

***


	2. Fights and Complications

The three boys crept into the girls' dormitory with grins on their faces

A/N: Everything you do recognize is JKR's. Everything you don't is mine. Especially Alexander.

The Second Realm

Chapter Two: Fights and Complications

The three boys crept into the girls' dormitory with grins on their faces. At least, Draco and Julian were smiling roguishly. Alexander was looking around nervously. The girls' dormitory was very neat and tidy, and one or two of the beds had a pink bedspread. Sissies, Draco thought in disgust as he surveyed the girls' room. He hated pink.

"Draco, what are we doing here?" Alexander asked. "This is pointless."

"No, it's not pointless," Draco replied. "Have you played any pranks at all, Alexander?"

"Oh I see. Yes, I've played quite a few pranks," Alexander said excitedly.

"I have the perfect prank to pull on the girls," Julian stated quickly. "It's a Muggle camp prank that is often done in movies. We need some honey, and some whipped cream."

"Someone will have to go back to the dining hall then," Draco said methodically.

"I'll do that. I'm used to nicking things out of kitchens," Julian replied, smiling so that he looked very impish.

"Right. We will stay here and make their room untidy," Draco stated.

"So hurry back, Julian, you don't want to miss the fun," Alexander said cheerfully.

"I wouldn't want to miss this for the world," Julian answered, and bolted through the door. Draco watched him run for a moment, then turned back to look at Alexander.

"Let's get started," Draco said simply. The two boys wrinkled the bedspreads, and threw some of the girls' laundry on the floor. They cluttered the room only a little bit before Julian came back, his arms full with honey and several cans of whipped cream.

"I see you've been busy," Julian said, snickering. "I have the honey and whipped cream."

"What do we do with them?" Draco asked, taking a can of whipped cream from Julian.

"We can put the honey in their beds, and the whipped cream on the inside of their clothes," Julian remarked.

"Perfect," Draco said softly, rubbing his hands together. The boys got to work, lining the insides of the girls' clothing with whipped cream, and smearing honey inside the bedcovers. Satisfied with their work, they stood up and wiped off the whipped cream from their hands. Alexander gasped.

"The girls are coming!" Alexander explained, and Julian went into a panic.

"C'mon, let's get out of here!" Julian said, and so they hurried out of the room. Draco could see a group of girls walking towards the dormitory, so there was hardly any time to hide. Draco and Julian hid behind a bush that was near the girls' dorm. Alexander was left standing, and tried to hide, but the girls had spotted him.

"Hi there," a girl with curly blonde hair said flirtatiously. 

"Um, hi," said Alexander. He tried to back away slowly and politely, but the girls formed a circle around him. He was trapped. 

"I'm Tiffany. Who are you?" the girl asked, smiling. The other girls giggled. Alexander tried not to let the panic show on his face, but it was hard not to be panicked when six girls, laden in makeup, were giggling madly around him.

"Alexander," Alexander replied weakly as the girls came closer and closer to him.

"That's a very nice name, Alexander," Tiffany said, leaning on one hip as if to seduce him with her womanly figure. It had no affect on him, but Tiffany thought that her seducing had worked.

"Er, thanks. I was just leaving, so if you will excuse me," Alexander said boldly, having found his courage.

"Oh, no, stay!" another girl with short brown hair pleaded. Alexander smiled politely at her, making her go weak in her knees.

"No, sorry, I have to go," Alexander insisted, pushing through two girls so he could leave the suffocating circle of girls. Immediately he felt sharp nails in his arms, and a hand on each of his shoulder. "What the-" Alexander gasped.

"Alexie, you must stay with us. We mean no harm," Tiffany said, stepping directly in front of him and breathing in his face. Alexander looked wearily at her, and then struggled weakly to get out of the girls' tight grip, but it was no use. They had hooked him. Draco felt a surge of protectiveness for Alexander. I would hate to be trapped like that, Draco thought. I should do something. Standing up, he came out from behind the bush, attracting no attention as every girl was busy looking lustily at Alexander. Draco pulled out his wand and meandered closer to the group of girls and Alexander.

"Oh, you rogue. You handsome hunk of man, you," a girl with orange hair and startlingly blue lipstick said, giggling. Tiffany was closing in on Alexander seductively, and Draco had a nasty feeling that she was going to try to kiss him. Raising his wand hand, Draco got ready for action.

"Petrificus Totalus," whispered Draco, and a beam of crimson light shot out of his wand, hitting Tiffany in the back. Her hands, which had been extended, snapped to her sides, her legs also snapped together, and she fell to the ground. All the other girls screamed. Alexander looked relived, and breathed a sigh.

"Someone's put a curse on Tiffany!" the girl with orange hair screamed. Draco stifled a laugh. Of course, simpleton, Draco thought. 

"Furnunculous," Draco said, louder than before. This time, the curse hit the girl with the short brown hair who had pleaded for Alexander to stay. The girl whimpered and put her hands to her face to ease the pain. Then she gasped as she felt large, red, ugly boils form underneath her fingers.

"I've got boils!" the girl screamed and the girls gasped simultaneously.

"Serpensortia," muttered Draco, chuckling softly. The girls still could not see him because they were too busy focusing on themselves. A sleek black snake slipped out of his wand, slithering towards the gibbering girls. Draco had said the same spell in his second year when he was duelling the "one and only" Harry Potter. Draco hated Harry, and Harry loathed Draco equally. Harry had refused to become Draco's ally on their first train ride, and Draco, burning with embarrassment and shock, thought afterwards that Harry Potter was a self-confident, ignorant, rude person. As it turned out, Harry had the one gift Draco wanted to possess. Harry was a Parselmouth and shouted at the snake Draco had conjured in snake language. Draco was positive that all Harry's fame had gone to his head.

"SNAKE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" the girl with orange hair screamed. The girls screamed, and rushed into their dormitory, leaving Alexander with the snake. Alexander saw the snake coming, and panicked slightly. He watched the snake nervously, following its every move. Then, suddenly, the snake exploded, causing a huge fire for two seconds. As quickly as it had come, the fire vanished, removing any trace of the snake Draco had summoned. Julian came out from his hiding place, gaping at the slightly burnt ground. Draco looked numbly at the ground, then raised his eyes to Alexander. Alexander's eyes had widened, and he was breathing in short gasps.

"Draco, you were excellent, shooting spells at everyone," Julian exclaimed in disbelief. 

"Thanks," Draco answered quietly, but he was still looking at Alexander.

"Alexander, how did you do that?" Julian asked, walking to Alexander. "You just stared at the snake, and he exploded! I can't believe it," he added, shaking his head in wonder.

"Neither can I," Alexander replied, in a voice barely higher than a whisper. "I didn't know I could do that."

"You didn't?" Julian wondered incredulously. "That's strange…I wonder what else you can do."

"I don't think I want to do any more weird stuff," Alexander said quietly, looking the most serious Draco had ever seen him be.

"Why ever not?" Julian asked, puzzled.

"Didn't you see what I did to that snake? I killed it, Julian," Alexander said, his voice shaky. "If I do anything more, more things will be hurt or killed." Alexander's gaze dropped to the ground. Draco was positive Alexander was going to cry.

"Of course you do not have to practice exploding things," Draco said. "If you hate it so, you don't have to do it." He looked at Julian sternly. Julian's face showed shame and embarrassment. 

"Sorry, Alexander. I did not mean to offend you," Julian apologised. Alexander smiled weakly.

"It's all right, really," Alexander replied. Girls screamed from within their dormitory, indicating that they found the honey and whipped cream in their beds.

"Run!" Julian called, and the boys ran off, leaving Tiffany on the ground, blinking frantically. 

Draco, Julian, and Alexander stopped running by a tree, grinning. The sun was shining brightly from its place in the sky, but Draco could tell it was getting later in the day. Soon, a stern-looking lady with her hair in a bun, and wrinkle lines in her forehead approached the boys. Draco was strongly reminded of Professor McGonagall back in Hogwarts.

"Earlingston! What have you done now?" the woman asked.

"What do you mean, Mrs. Crayabb? I haven't done anything," Julian replied, trying to appear innocent.

"Don't speak to me like that, young man," Mrs. Crayabb hissed. "I have an acute ESP."

"Pardon me, Mrs. Crayabb," Draco said in his silkiest voice.

"Eh, yes?" Mrs. Crayabb said, whipping her head around to look at Draco. "Who are you?"

"Draco Malfoy, madam. We have just been walking around until you graced us with your illustrious presence," Draco said, bowing politely and gracefully. Julian and Alexander stared at him. Mrs. Crayabb looked shocked, or flattered, Draco could not tell.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy, I understand completely," Mrs. Crayabb replied, her harsh tone less defiant. "However, you must go to the field because we are doing some camp activities. If you will excuse me, I will go to the girls' dormitory to inform them of this announcement." With a sweep of her dress, Mrs. Crayabb strolled away. When she was gone, Julian and Alexander burst into peals of laughter.

"You actually said to that devil-woman, 'you graced us with your illustrious presence?'" Julian asked, laughing so hard he was having trouble breathing. "How dense can you get?"

"If I had not cut in, you would have been yelled at," Draco snarled. "I do believe you owe me one, Julian." Julian became silent.

"That woman scares me," Alexander said, shaking his head.

"She hates me, I know that," Julian stated. "But she loves you, Draco," he added, smirking at Draco. Draco frowned, and sighed exasperatedly.

"I'm sure she does. We'll be announcing our engagement any day now," Draco said sarcastically. Julian and Alexander snickered.

"As much as I hate to admit it, we have to go to the field," Julian sighed. "The counselors get really aggravated if we don't do the camp activities."

"Right, we'd better go," Alexander said, and no one disagreed with him. 

At the field, the campers were sitting on the grass, while the counselors stood, looking pompous and important. Draco sat with his friends in the last row of campers. Counsellor Bowers cleared his throat, making heads turn in his direction.

"I am proud to announce that we are going to do our annual camp activities," Bowers said, and some people groaned. "This activities are meant to be fun and educational. You will be separated into groups, where you will each do a different activity. Then, when you are done with that activity, the groups will rotate so each group will do a new activity. The first activity-" He stopped when Mrs. Crayabb marched up to him and whispered something in his ear.

"Mrs. Crayabb has kindly informed me of a rule I have not mentioned," Bowers said. "Obey your instructor, and if I find any of you misbehaving, I will be forced to punish you."

"As I was saying, the activities are arts and crafts, hiking, archery, Botany, charms to use in the wilderness, and cooking. I will now assign the groups," Bowers said firmly. "Group 1, which does hiking first: Matthew Binder, Susan Carson, Spencer Delanston, Eleanor Frither," Bowers said, and continued to say the names of the first group.

"We're not in the first group, thank goodness," Julian whispered to Draco.

"That would be horrible, going hiking. Hiking is for pathetic campers that want to cut through the wilderness and eat dirt. Not my idea of having fun," Draco whispered back. Bowers then announced the second group, who would be carving, and the third group who would be doing archery.

"The fourth group will be heading towards the northern part of the forest to practise charms to use in the wilderness," Bowers yelled. "Lila Berth, Edric Conline, Julian Earlingston, Abigail Greening, Vatican Holmes, Cassandra Lerrigren …Draco Malfoy…Alexander Thespian, Katie Woolington."

"Yes!" Julian shouted. Draco's heart felt considerably lighter as he knew that he had some people to whom he could talk. Counsellor Ilidine, who was the head of the fourth group, looked at the group assembling before him. Ilidine snapped his fingers and walked off, the group trudging behind him.

"All right you group! I want to hear a marching song as we move into the forest! Now," barked Ilidine and the group morbidly started singing.

"One two three four, who do we hate more? Five six seven eight, Ilidine is who we hate!" Julian sang softly so only Alexander and Draco could hear it. Alexander and Draco chuckled. Draco decided to make up a song to Britain's national anthem.

"I do hate hi-i-king, I despise hike-ing, oh yes I do. We are going to the woods, to get our rightly goods, oh yes we are," Draco sang in a whisper. Julian snickered and Alexander had to stifle a laugh.

"Here we are! Now I shall teach you some charms," Ilidine bellowed. "First you need to start by making a fire. In the wilderness, fire keeps you warm and provides light."

"Doesn't fire do that outside of the wilderness too?" Julian asked. Counsellor Ilidine frowned.

"Yes, but that isn't the point. Be quiet," Ilidine ordered, and resumed to his speech. Draco noticed that the fire charm was simple, because the person merely had to take out his wand and say "Incendio." Draco took out his wand and twirled it around nonchalantly. 

"I could do this in my second year," Julian whispered to Alexander.

"We might be starting with the basic charms first. I'm sure it will become harder," Alexander replied.

"It had better be harder," Julian grumbled. Time passed, and the group performed harder charms. Draco had a moderately hard time trying to do the Insula charm, which was supposed to conjure a tent, a Muggle invention. Draco gritted his teeth in frustration and gripped his wand tighter. Julian was having trouble doing the Aboratia charm, which was supposed to chop wood with a wave of his wand. 

"Salamis," Vatican Holmes, a black haired boy with brown eyes and a mean disposition snarled. The charms hit Julian in the chest, making him double over and wheeze. 

"Holmes," Julian coughed. "You git." Vatican Holmes only snickered.

"Lost your cockiness now, eh, Earlingston? Too bad you don't have enough money to buy decent robes," Holmes said. Julian glared at Holmes. Draco suddenly felt his heart beat faster and harder. Holmes was acting like an annoying bully. I will show him, Draco thought.

"Shut up, Holmes. You are just insulting them because you want to feel superior," Draco spat, unknowingly describing himself. Holmes looked shocked, and stared at Draco instead of Julian.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" Holmes sneered. "A prissy little rich boy. How lovely." Draco's cheeks tinged pink and his temper flared.

"You are not much better yourself, you slimy thief," Draco retorted. "I know about your family, and they're nothing more than slaves of the Dark Lord-"

"Shut up," Holmes snarled. "That's not true." Draco noticed that Holmes's face twitched, and he glared at Draco. Ah ha, Draco thought, I have hit home.

"Oh, that's not true, is it?" Draco drawled. "Shall I call for your father then? Holmes! Can you polish my shoes? If you don't mind, maybe you could iron my shirts, they are wrinkled-" Draco stopped abruptly as Holmes punched him in the stomach, making him double over. Gasping for breath, Draco stood up, his gray eyes like ice.

"You impertinent buffoon," Holmes hissed. 

"I didn't know you could use such fancy vocabulary, Holmes," Draco said, still wheezing. "I think I'll get you a dictionary for Christmas." Holmes growled, and lunged angrily at Draco, who quickly stepped to the side. Draco put up his fists defensively, and, without warning, punched Holmes on his right shoulder. This action promptly led the two into a fierce fistfight. Julian and Alexander watched in amazement as Draco tried to beat Holmes into a pulp, but Holmes was easily creaming him. A girl, whom Draco later learned was Katie Woolington, shrieked for Counselor Ilidine to come. Ilidine rushed over and stared at the fracas.

"What is going on here?" Ilidine asked Katie.

"Vatican hit Julian with a charm, and the blond haired boy defended Julian until Vatican hit the blond haired boy, so he had to fight back," Katie replied breathlessly. Ilidine pondered her words, but not for very long as Draco and Vatican kept hitting each other.

"BOYS! STOP NOW BEFORE I BASH IN BOTH YOUR BLOODY HEADS!" Ilidine shouted. Draco and Holmes stopped their arms in mid-punch. Draco had a bloody nose and his arms had several bruises, while Holmes had a black eye and a cut on his cheek.

"Sir- I was just- I mean," Holmes stammered.

"YOU BROKE THE RULES! NO FIGHTING IN CLASS!" Ilidine roared, and Holmes winced slightly. Draco lowered his arm and got to his feet gracefully.

"Sir, if you allow me to explain," Draco said unctuously. "He was saying rather indecent words to me, and then he hit me, with no respect for high class, mind you, and--"

"Quiet, Mister Malfoy, is it?" Ilidine asked, and Draco nodded. "Well, Mister Malfoy, I understand that Mister Holmes has been unjust to you, and I know that he damaged your precious skin, but I am sure he was fighting in self-defense." Ilidine paused to let his words sink in.

"Sir, I honestly think that he should be punished as he has no manners whatsoever. He is dreadfully uncouth, and should be rightfully locked away," Draco stated, but Ilidine silenced him by holding up his hand. 

"I want to hear no more, Malfoy!" Ilidine yelled. "If you happen to disgrace us with your illegal behaviour, then I cannot help but punish you. You shall have a detention. See Madame Hopkins."

"But sir-" Draco interjected.

"Malfoy, I'm warning you. Keep your mouth shut," Ilidine snarled, and walked away. Draco's temper flared, and he swore loudly. Fortunately for him, neither Ilidine nor Katie Woolington heard him. Alexander and Julian came to his side, both in awe.

"I can't believe you hit Holmes," Julian said. "He's nasty, awfully. He loathes me as much as I loathe him." That sounds familiar, Draco thought. Potter and I both hate each other vehemently. 

"It's better if you stay away from him," Alexander mused. "That way, you won't have to hit each other, and you won't get in trouble."

"But if he does come near, I'll smash his ignorant head," Draco grumbled.

"Yeah, anything to get through his thick skull," Julian said, snickering. Katie Woolington interrupted their conversation by shouting, "Wait!" and running towards them. Draco stared at her running. Katie had light hazel eyes and brown curls of hair that bounced as she ran, and she seemed to be running in slow motion. It must be my eyes, Draco thought. Katie stopped running, breathing loudly, her eyes gleaming.

"I just wanted to say that- that I'm- I'm s-s-sorry," Katie stammered.

"Sorry? Whatever for? You didn't do anything," Julian replied nastily.

"I'm sorry that you got insulted by Vatican," Katie managed to say. "And I'm sorry you're bleeding and hurting, …er, what's your name?" She pointed to Draco.

"Draco Malfoy, and he's Alexander Thespian. What's yours?" Draco asked.

"Katie Woolington," Katie said softly. Draco swept into a manly bow, which made Katie blush dark crimson and curtsy shakily to Draco. Julian looked disgusted at this formal exchange of gestures, but Alexander watched with wide eyes. 

"Now that we've been introduced, what do we do?" Julian asked exasperatedly, running a hand through his hair. "We have done all the charms that he assigned us," he added.

"There's only half an hour left of this class," Alexander commented. Julian thrust his fist in the air happily, and Draco sighed. Katie was not as red as she was before, but seemed to have gained energy and spirit.

"Why don't we sit down and talk then?" Katie asked excitedly.

"But that's what girls always want to do," Julian groaned. "Talk, talk, talk!"

"Come on, Julian, it is not that bad," Katie replied. "After all, boys have to talk sometime too," she added practically. Alexander and Draco sank to the ground, and Katie followed suit. Julian sighed, and sat down as well.

"Well, we sat down," Alexander remarked. 

"Not so bad, is it?" Katie said, looking at Julian. Julian shook his head.

"I guess not," Julian replied. Just then Draco noticed how very close he and Katie were and he edged away slightly.

"Do you like this camp so far?" Katie asked, looking at Draco and Alexander. 

"Yes, it's very interesting," Alexander replied.

"It's most likely to become worse," Draco added. Katie smiled, and that was the end of their conversation for a few minutes.

"So, what are your birthdays?" Katie wondered, trying to make conversation.

"October ninth," Alexander said.

"April fourteenth," Julian added.

"February twenty-fifth," muttered Draco.

"Mine's July eighth, which is coming up soon," Katie remarked.

"How nice," Alexander said thoughtfully, staring into space. The four adolescents sat in silence until Counselor Ilidine came over and told them that they had better be moving or he would send them to the punishment zone. They joined the group and walked to the camp silently. Draco found out that they would be going to arts and crafts. Oh no, Draco thought sadly, but there was nothing he could do to change the activity. He cursed under his breath as they walked toward the camp workshop, and continually stared at the ground. He hated, in fact loathed, arts and crafts. Making things and Draco did not mix. Counselor Ilidine walked proudly through the workshop's doorway.

"In here, you can make bracelets, clay sculptures, paintings, and wooden things for the carpenters at heart," Ilidine said. "If you do not clean your own mess, you shall be punished. Now get to work." The campers eagerly rushed towards the tools and pieces of paper. Draco immediately sat down at a table in the corner, looking at his peers in disgust as they chose what they wanted to do. Julian joined his table a few minutes later with two quills and sheets of paper.

"Here Draco, you can draw if you want. I brought some extras," Julian said, handing Draco a quill and two sheets of paper.

"Thanks," Draco muttered, and held the quill in his hand, thinking of what to draw. The first thing that came to his mind was Katie, but he pushed that idea away hastily. He could not think of anything else to draw, however, so he started to draw a face. Draco stopped drawing for a moment as he raised his head involuntarily to scrutinize Katie so he could draw her exact features. She was at a table with two other girls, stringing beads onto a piece of thread as she talked rapidly. Draco continued to draw, glancing at Katie every two minutes or so. Julian kept drawing and so he did not speak, but Alexander never came to their table. After three-quarters of an hour, Draco sat back, satisfied with his work. Julian lifted his head for a moment to stare curiously at Draco and his drawing.

"Who's that? Your girlfriend?" Julian asked inquisitively. Draco covered his drawing hastily.

"No one," Draco muttered. Julian's eyes widened.

"You actually drew Katie's portrait?" Julian inquired incredulously. 

"Of course not," Draco mumbled, his face turning red. Julian's mouth fell open.

"I can't believe it. I think you like her," Julian mumbled.

"Do not," Draco retorted.

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"I really do not," Draco mumbled, and Julian sighed and shook his head. Just then, Alexander came over to their table with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"You have to see what I've made," he said excitedly, and ushered them to the table where he had been working. A clay sculpture stood there, glistening in the light. Julian gasped. It was almost a replica of Katie's head and shoulders.

"Oh great, you too?" Julian asked, sighing exasperatedly.

"What d'you mean?" Alexander replied. "I've made this for her birthday. You heard her, it's coming up soon."

"Draco's made a picture of her," Julian stated. "He fancies her, as well."

"That is not true," Draco retorted. Julian ran back to the table and grabbed Draco's drawing solemnly.

"Then what's this? Don't tell me you don't have some feelings for her," Julian said. Draco shook his head defensively. Alexander's eyes widened.

"It looks exactly like Katie," Alexander gasped.

"So does yours," Draco commented. Alexander took the drawing and inspected closely. Then he smiled.

"This'll be perfect for her," Alexander said. "What did you make, Julian?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Julian asked.

"What did you make for Katie?" Alexander amended. Julian looked shocked.

"Why would I make anything for her?" Julian spluttered. Draco smirked, chuckling.

"Perhaps you did. Shall I take a look at your drawing?" Draco asked, and before Julian could stop him, he walked over to their original table and grabbed Julian's paper. Carefully sketched on the paper was a picture of Katie walking in the forest, with an aura shining around her head. Draco's heart leapt. Julian fancied Katie as well! What a marvelous love quadrilateral this is turning out to be, Draco thought, amused.

"Well? What is it?" Alexander asked. Draco turned the paper around, and Julian looked the other way, blushing a deep red. Alexander was taken aback. 

"Looks like our Julian has a closet affection for a certain someone," Draco remarked. Julian closed his mouth stubbornly and refused to answer.

"I never would have guessed," Alexander said. "C'mon, let's put our presents in a box so that we can hide Katie's presents until her birthday comes." The three boys quickly went into the storage room and grabbed a box big enough to hide the bust Alexander made and the two drawings. Closing the box, Alexander stood up straight and brushed his hands together.

"That's done. I'm sure she'll like them," Alexander commented. Draco and Julian merely nodded, being too embarrassed to say anything more. Time passed as if on wings, and when the class was over, Alexander picked the box up quickly as they headed for the door. The campers had free time before dinner, so Draco, Julian, and Alexander sauntered back to their cabin. No one was inside, so they had the whole room to themselves. Julian settled down on his bunk with the book "Tricks for the Young at Heart," Alexander busied himself writing in his notebook, and Draco sat on his bed composing a letter to his father.

Dear Father,

I am having a reasonably fair time at camp doing the camp activities and such. I apologize for my rude behavior a while back; I was not myself. I have made two friends, Alexander Thespian and Julian Earlingston. They are decent, and as far as I know, they are not Dark wizards. The food at this camp is despicable, having a lower standard of food than I am used to. This camp reeks of untidiness and filth. Father, I bid you farewell until I write again. Give Mother my greeting.

Your son,

Draco 

"Hey, Draco!" Julian exclaimed, bringing Draco back into the real world.

"What?" Draco snapped nastily.

"Can I add a bit to your letter?" Julian asked.

"How did you know it was a letter?" Draco wondered.

"I figured as such," Julian muttered.

"Right…I suppose you can, but it's to my father," Draco began.

"Ah, I see," Julian said, and he took the quill from Draco and scribbled a note on the bottom.

PS. Hello Mister Malfoy, this is Julian Earlingston, Draco's friend. I was wondering if possibly I was able to come and visit your son, Draco, after camp. If it is possible, I thank you. I will not be much trouble, I promise you. -Julian Earlingston

"I'm sure that won't ever happen," Draco said glumly. "My father's not one for being easy going and courteous." 

"I'm sure he'll allow me to come over," Julian replied. "And if he doesn't, I'll come to pick you up and you can visit my house." Draco was shocked at the very idea, but then again, it seemed so exhilarating, and so impossible that Draco was intrigued.

"Of course. That would be interesting," Draco said nicely.

"Yeah, and we'll kidnap Alexander too," Julian added loudly. Alexander looked up from his notebook/diary.

"What? Yes, yes, of course," Alexander replied absentmindedly. Draco and Julian laughed. Julian got up from his bed and peered at the diary in Alexander's lap. Alexander did not realize that Julian was reading over his shoulder. Julian walked back to his bed and sat on it again, snickering at what he would read. Draco gracefully slid off his bed and sat on Julian's.

"What was he writing?" Draco whispered.

"Just how much fun he had today," Julian whispered back. "It was interesting. Honestly," he added. Draco nodded solemnly, reached up to take the letter to his father, and folded it neatly in quarters.

"I must deliver this letter to my father," Draco announced. "Where do I do that?"

"The mail box is in the Great Hall. Here, I'll go with you," Julian suggested, and Draco had no choice but to accept. The two boys strolled out of the cabin and walked towards the Great Hall. Julian showed Draco a mailbox that was near the entrance. Draco grinned and slid the letter through the slot. 

"That was simple, if I do say so myself," said Draco.

"I know, so you can send your letters anytime you want," Julian commented as they stepped outside. After an hour or so, Julian and Draco joined Alexander, and they went to the section of the forest where they were supposed to study Botany. Counselor Ilidine was there, scowling at everyone. He gave Draco a particularly mean sneer as he walked by. Draco now hated Ilidine, and he was sure that Ilidine despised him as well.

"Botany is very difficult to master because there are many difficult types of flowers, and they have very complicated Latin names," Ilidine began. Julian snickered.

"Yeah, for him," Julian whispered to Draco. Draco chuckled as well, which made Ilidine stare at him for a moment before he continued.

"As I was saying, we shall first study the flower Ochna Serrulata, which originates from the flower Ochna, or bird's eye bush. Ochna is usually five to ten petal saucer-shaped flowers. After its petals fall, the flower opens to produce purplish black, spherical, one-seeded berries. It requires a lot of watering and sunlight, and can only grow its best in moist ground," Ilidine explained. "Many of you pick the berries of the bird's eye bush to be ground and put in potions. The berries are used for Shining, Growing, or Thickening Potions." Draco felt his eyes close but struggled to keep them open. As if he cared about for what potions the berries could be used. Just then, Katie raised her hand.

"Counsellor Ilidine, I've found a plant that needs your attention. What is that?" Katie asked, pointing to a leafy green plant which had spiky leaves.

"Oh, that's merely a Venuitian plant," Ilidine chuckled. "Fairly interesting." Ilidine continued giving his speech, waving his arms dramatically. "And over here is the Pleiospilos, or known as living granite, and is very fancy. The petals of its flower-"

"AAH!" a girl screamed. Ilidine turned his head to look around, but saw nothing because Katie was lying on the ground, with a plant entwined around her kneecap. Blood was trickling from the place where the plant had bitten her. Suddenly, more vines crept up her leg, soon covering her lower half. Alexander rushed to her side and tried in vain to pull the plant off Katie; Julian was stomping on the plant; screams could be heard from Katie and the rest of the class stared timidly. Alexander looked at the plant frantically, his brow furrowed in worry. The plant then burst into flame, causing them all to gasp and the vines to fall off Katie's legs. Katie stood up hastily as the fire incinerated the last of the Venuitian plant and disappeared as quickly as it had come. Draco looked at Alexander in shock. He had done it again. Julian's face showed the utmost envy as Katie gazed at Alexander with adoring eyes.

"How did you do that?" Katie asked wonderingly. "Never mind that, you saved me. How can I thank you?"

"It's nothing really," Alexander answered softly. Katie smiled for a second, tears forming in her eyes, and hugged him while sobbing into his shoulder. Alexander was shocked, but he patted Katie's back comfortingly. Julian scoffed and immediately became engrossed staring at moss on a rock. Draco snickered softly, knowing that Julian was jealous whether he knew it or not. Counselor Ilidine ran up to them, a little too late.

"What happened here?" Ilidine asked quickly.

"A plant was attacking Katie, sir," Alexander said. "But everything's all right now." To everyone's surprise, Ilidine chuckled.

"Nonsense! Plants don't usually attack someone, and if they do, it's because that person is strange or abnormal," Ilidine explained. Alexander removed himself from Katie, looking like he had been applying too much rouge on his face.

"Shut up," Alexander growled. Counselor Ilidine was taken aback.

"What did you say to me, little boy?" Ilidine asked, horrified.

"I SAID SHUT UP! YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! IN FACT, YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A POMPOUS GIT!" Alexander roared, and unconsciously took Katie's hand. Katie looked just as furious as Alexander. Ilidine's face was now a dark red, and sparks could be seen darting from his eyes.

"POMPOUS GIT? STUPID, STUPID BOY! SILENCE YOURSELF! YOU'RE ALREADY GOING TO THE PUNISHMENT CABIN!" Ilidine screeched, and suddenly punched Alexander in the chest. Alexander groaned and fell to the ground, which made Katie slap Ilidine on the cheek. Ilidine pushed her away disdainfully, and Julian reached into his pocket for his wand. Draco ran in front of Ilidine and slugged him on the jaw. Ilidine gasped, and Draco felt the urge to hit him more, so he did. Chaos ensued, with Julian and Draco punching Ilidine and dodging his blows, Katie tending to Alexander, and everyone screaming.

"Petrificus Totalus," Draco heard Julian mutter, and a silvery green beam of light burst from his wand, heading for Ilidine, but Vatican Holmes was hit instead. He lay there on the ground, blinking angrily, while Ilidine was fighting a losing battle against Draco and Julian. Alexander got to his feet at last, but he did not look at Julian and Draco throwing punches, nor did he look at Ilidine's furious face. Alexander just looked into Katie's hazel eyes.

"What the hell is going on here?" a man bellowed, and everyone fell silent. Counsellor Bowers stood amidst the frantic students with his hands on his hips. Julian and Draco turned around and slowly lowered their hands, pretending to look innocent. Ilidine stood up, gasping for breath, saw Bowers and swore softly.

"Robert Bowers, let me explain what has happened," Ilidine said quickly. "This young man," he pointed at Alexander, "has insulted me, and so I had to discipline in the best possible way by sending him to the Punishment cabin."

"Is that true, lad?" Bowers inquired, glaring at Alexander. Alexander was about to nod when Julian cleared his throat.

"Sir, that's not true. Ilidine hit Alexander on purpose as soon as Alexander did something that he hated," Julian explained. Bowers' face contorted in fury, and he whipped his head toward Ilidine.

"You hit a camper? How stupid can you get?" Bowers raged, making speckles of spit dribble down his chin. "Ilidine, you are excused from camp activities for the rest of the week. May that be a lesson to you."

"Robert, he called me a pompous git," Ilidine stated while his face turned paler. "And those two attacked me." He pointed at Julian and Draco menacingly. Draco sneered at Ilidine while Bowers was not looking. Then Bowers stared at Julian and Draco, showing no mercy.

"Hitting a counselor is a very serious crime, and you must be punished accordingly," Bowers remarked. "Punishment cabin. Now." Julian hung his head, and Draco's mouth fell open, but they had no choice other than to walk to a little, brown, wooden cabin on a nearby hill. The rest of the group snickered as Julian and Draco walked away from them. Alexander started to run after his friends, but Bowers stopped him. Julian sighed, and Draco knew that the worst was yet to come.


	3. Through the Portal

Draco sat on his hard bed miserably

A/N: Draco Malfoy, etc. belong to JK Rowling. Whatever you don't recognize belongs to me. 

The Second Realm

Chapter Three: Through the Portal

Draco sat on his hard bed miserably. His things had been summoned to the cabin, and now there was nothing to do. It had been an hour since he had been banished to the Punishment cabin, and Draco's ire was building. His frustration was so intense that he had to walk back and forth on the dusty wooden floor, hating with every inch of his being the unfair treatment that he was given. Of course, Draco was being punished because he hit a counsellor, but Draco knew that Ilidine had been equally as terrible to him and his friends. Speaking of which, Alexander and Katie must be having a lovely romantic time, snuggled close to each other, having no one interrupt while they-

Draco stopped his thoughts abruptly, and shuddered. It would do him no good to think of what two other people could do while he was stuck here. He glanced at where Julian was sitting, and saw that he was staring at the middle of the cabin with rapt attention. Since Draco's bed was on the other side of the small cabin, he had to walk over to Julian.

"Julian, what are you doing?" Draco asked sourly, having no idea why Julian found the floor so fascinating.

"You mean you don't see her?" Julian replied incredulously. 

"See who? I don't see anyone," Draco snapped. Julian looked at him for a brief moment, shocked, and turned back to watch whatever he was seeing. 

"She's saying something I can't quite make out," Julian said quietly. "What…are…you…doing? I wonder to whom she is talking. Must be one of her friends."

"Will you stop it with the bloody girl!" Draco fumed. "You must be losing your mind, honestly."

"No, I can see her clearly," Julian replied. "She looks like an elf, no wait, a fairy."

"That's wonderful. You can see a fairy in your head," Draco said sarcastically. "Maybe next you'll start to see trolls."

"Be quiet," Julian hushed, then suddenly became startled. "She's screaming! Screaming, holding out her hands, and she looks scared!"

"Oh, really? Or do you just think that you see her scared?" Draco snapped. Julian did not respond, however, but leapt from his bed and grabbed at something in the center of the room. Draco rolled his eyes in exasperation, but Julian gasped. 

"It's a portal to her land," Julian breathed. Draco sighed.

"There's nothing there," Draco insisted. "Absolutely nothing." Julian shook his head, and he grabbed Draco's wrist and pulled him into the middle of the cabin. Draco was about to protest, but suddenly he was not in the cabin anymore, but in a lush, green forest, complete with moss and creatures.

"Woah," Julian mumbled. "Cool."

"What? Where have you taken me?" Draco demanded.

"I don't know," Julian admitted, taken with the view of the pretty forest.

"That's the problem!" Draco shouted. "You didn't think before you acted. You immature piece of-"

"Stop it, Draco!" Julian exclaimed. "Can't you live a little? Possibly take the advantages of the situation? Oh, no, you have to complain! If you complain now, you won't have fun!"

"All right, I understand!" Draco said exasperatedly. "Now let's find this girl or fairy of yours before you go ballistic." He crossed his arms and glared his coldest at Julian. Julian was slightly offended, but he did not say anything. Instead, he became absolutely still, as if listening for something, and immediately walked off in one direction. Draco did not question Julian's instinct, but strolled after him. Draco then heard someone female scream loudly as if she were being wounded. Julian must have heard it too, for he began to run quickly towards where the sound used to be. Draco did not like this very much; after all, running would tangle his hair horribly. The two boys continued running until they came to a clearing in the forest. There they could see a dainty girl with long honey brown hair and psychedelically colored wings, and a fairly taller boy whose hair was tinted green, with his skin a dark brown. They did not see Julian and Draco at first, but continued what they were doing.

"You fell for that trick easily," the boy said, grinning impishly at the girl.

"I can't help it; I'm gullible," the girl replied. "You shouldn't have scared me like that."

"I shouldn't have, but I did," the boy remarked simply. "That's my nature." That comment seemed to have an effect on the girl, as she stood in silence. It was then that the girl spotted Julian and Draco.

"Milky drizzleweeds! There are strangers in the forest," the girl said, walking to the two boys. "What are you doing here?" she questioned, looking at both Julian and Draco curiously.

"We heard your scream," Julian said quickly before Draco could speak. "We wondered if you were all right."

"Oh, that. That was nothing," the girl said shyly. "I was only frightened because my friend scared me. But I'm all right," she added, looking intently at Julian. Startled by this sudden attention, Julian reddened. The green haired boy must have sensed the situation was awkward, so he immediately came over to where Draco and Julian were standing.

"So you're strangers here in Imbrix?" the boy asked. Julian and Draco did not know where they were, so they nodded politely. "Welcome. I am Colin Moc'ri and the little girl is Saffron Callide," the boy added, grinning jauntily as he waved his right arm in a triangle shape and bowed deeply. Draco contiguously knew that was a greeting, so he tried to repeat the gesture in the same manner.

"Colin! I'm not a little girl," Saffron said, annoyed at her friend's words.

"No, of course not," Colin replied. "But you're not an adult yet."

"Don't remind me," Saffron said airily. 

"Er, maybe you could show us around," Julian said, not wanting to make a wrong impression. Draco knew that if they said a wrong word that offended Colin and Saffron, they could turn against them and possibly kill them. On the other hand, maybe I am being too pessimistic, Draco thought. They look too innocent and foolish to kill anyone. 

"You'd like that. Imbrix is a nice place, even if it is in the middle of hard times," Saffron remarked. Draco wondered what she meant by "hard times." Was an evil wizard killing their kind as well?

"Before we can take them on a tour, we need to know their names," Colin said. "Are you from the human world?" he added curiously. 

"I'm Draco Malfoy, and he is Julian Earlingston," Draco said stiffly. "We are indeed from the human world, but we're not Muggles, just wizards." Julian nodded in agreement.

"You are wizards? I am so scared," Colin replied. "Wouldst thou cast me a curse? I have yet but to live and to thrive," he added dramatically, clasping his hands over his heart. Draco rolled his eyes, but Julian laughed.

"Don't worry, we won't put a curse on you," Julian said. "At least, I wouldn't, I don't know about Draco," he added quietly. Draco scoffed, and Saffron and Colin looked a bit nervous, but they motioned Julian and Draco to follow them as they walked forward through the forest. As they were walking, Draco felt the air was full of something but he did not know exactly what it was. Perhaps he felt only humidity.

"Colin reminds me of my cousins Fred and George," Julian muttered so only Draco heard. Draco's heart gave a jolt, and he stared at Julian in shock.

"Your cousins? Surely not Fred and George Weasley," Draco replied, and groaned inwardly. If Julian and Weasley (Ron) were related…

"Yes, those are the ones," Julian said, forgetting to whisper. Saffron and Colin took no notice as they were deep in conversation.

"So then you're related to Weasley," Draco groaned aloud, mostly to himself. Julian looked puzzled.

"How on earth do you know my cousins' surname?" Julian asked. "They go to Hogw--oh," he added, nodding his head. "You go to the same school."

"Right. Of course, Weasley is friends with Potter, and they think they know it all," Draco said, but stopped as he knew he was going into dangerous territory. Julian might not like it if he, Draco, insulted his cousins.

"Potter? Harry Potter?" Julian asked incredulously, forgetting anything else Draco had said in his last sentence. 

"Yes," Draco replied blandly. Julian seemed to perk up after that.

"That's great! I wish Ron would write me, because I haven't talked to him in four years," Julian rambled. "My father wants to see Aunt Molly, as he's her brother, I would like to see all my cousins, and I'm sure my sister wants to talk to Ginny again." Draco did not listen that attentively, as he hated anything to do with the Weasleys. That would mean that he hated Julian, which he did not, because Julian was his friend. Screw that logic, Draco thought. 

"To change the subject," Draco said hastily. "We have to find out where we are, and what we have to do to get out of here. I don't think we should stay very long here," he added solemnly. Julian barely paid attention since he was busy looking at Saffron.

"Yeah, I know, even though it might be fun," Julian admitted.

"Fun," Draco scoffed. He did not know whether his time in Imbrix would be fun, but he hoped it would at least be exciting.

The four walked on until they arrived at a town that looked amazing. The houses were made out of dirt, stones, and grass, but they were covered in gorgeous flowers, and seemed to sparkle with magic. The road itself appeared to be made out of gold glitter and cushions, as it was very soft. Draco had to admit to himself that he had never seen such a beautiful town as this one.

"Look at that mansion," Julian gasped, pointing ahead of them to a white mansion that was so breath-taking Draco could not find words to describe it.

"Here's my house, you two," Saffron said suddenly, stopping at a cute little hut. "Come in and you can meet my family," she added, a mischievous grin showing on her face. The four stepped into the house, which was furnished with elaborately made furniture.

"Fantastic," Julian said softly.

"Mother! I'm home!" Saffron called, and a ravishing middle aged fairy woman came through a doorway. She was tall, with her golden hair swept up in an exquisite bun. She walked as if she had a metal rod instead of a spine. Her wings were out, and they had a wide range of colours, psychedelically mixed. Her nose seemed as though it had been chiselled at for a rather long time, and her thin lips twisted into a frown as her piercing blue eyes glared at both Julian and Draco. 

"What are they doing here?" Mrs. Callide said sharply.

"I brought them, Mother," Saffron replied, making Mrs. Callide frown.

"Saffron! How many times have I warned you not to let human beings into our realm? And when I have my back turned, the first thing you do is let two humans into Imbrix!" she screamed. Saffron hung her head.

"Sorry," Saffron mumbled.

"SAYING SORRY ISN'T GOING TO DO ANYTHING!" Mrs. Callide shrieked. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU CAUSED? ALL OF IMBRIX IS AT RISK!"

"I just--" Saffron began.

"I THOUGHT I WAS BEING SOMEWHAT FAIR TO YOU, LETTING YOU WANDER THE WOODS LIKE THAT! FOUR HOURS OF PHYSICAL LABOUR FOR YOU, SAFFRON!" Mrs. Callide yelled, and her arms fell to her sides, limp for a moment. She looked furious as she spewed a blue fireball towards Saffron. Saffron shrieked, as the blue fire was painful; she floated to the air involuntarily, and was whisked away upstairs. The enraged Mrs. Callide turned to Draco and Julian quickly. Draco wondered what their fate would be.

"Sit down," Mrs. Callide said coldly. "Colin, please leave." Colin flew out the door in a flash, and Draco and Julian sat down quickly on the couch to avoid her wrath. Unfortunately, it came anyway.

"Er, Mrs…I can explain," Julian started to speak, but Mrs. Callide silenced him by raising her hand.

"Don't speak for now," Mrs. Callide replied, but she did not explain. She looked at them meticulously, as if eyeing every detail. Draco felt as though he was frozen under her icy glare.

"You seem to be ignorant of the situation," she continued. "I must speak, then, of the danger you have placed on Imbrix. Protecting Imbrix is this shield of magic, which lets fairies in and out. Every time a human comes into our land, however, the shield is weakened and some of the magic of the shield drains away. Because you are different from the fairies that inhibit Imbrix, you destroy a bit of the shield when you enter our land. To be honest, I do not know why the shield loses its magic to humans, but perhaps you absorb the magic into your systems and destroy it. Now that Imbrix is temporarily weakened, our enemies the Traskins (ugly, demonic trolls) can come at any minute and attack. Do you now realise the consequences of your being here?" Mrs. Callide finished by fluttering her wings to signify the gravity of her speech.

"We had no idea," Julian said weakly. "I'm really sorry, ma'am. I am." Julian looked down at his feet. Draco was stunned. They destroyed some magic shield by coming? That was strange…

"A little too late for saying that," Mrs. Callide replied. "There is one more issue I have to address. If you cannot help us by serving as soldiers, then I am afraid I have no choice but to take you to the King and have you disposed." Julian gasped and Draco groaned inwardly.

"We'll do it," Julian said stubbornly, and Draco stared at him, astonished. Well, actually, we have no choice otherwise, Draco thought grimly.

"We'll be soldiers," Draco added hesitantly. Mrs. Callide seemed satisfied with this, and because of their subservience, gave them some delicious fairy wheat bread. Draco chewed the bread thoughtfully as he pondered the dire situation they were in. He could not believe that they had said they would be soldiers, but what needed to be done had to be done. Draco hoped that his term as a soldier would not maim him for life. Several sharp shrieks made him stop chewing to look for the origin of the noise. Mrs. Callide paid no attention, so he had the sneaking suspicion that Saffron, the one who shrieked, must have been in trouble many times.

"Er, Mrs. Callide?" Julian asked timidly. The fairy gazed at him intently, waiting for him to speak. "May I take a look around your house, please?" he wondered, so frightened that he lost any rebelliousness whatsoever.

"Yes, you may," Mrs. Callide replied. "Be careful not to break anything." Julian nodded, and got up from the couch to go exploring. Draco was anxious to leave the room as well, but by the way Mrs. Callide was watching him, he decided not to risk it. "So young man," she added when Julian had left the room to go upstairs, "what is your name?"

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," Draco said.

"Strange name," Mrs. Callide murmured. "Strange indeed."

"What about it?" Draco asked sharply.

"It seems as though you are special," Mrs. Callide replied firmly. "I don't know how exactly you are, but then I do not have the level of Magic that the Sorcerer and Sorceress do."

"There are two of them?" Draco said skeptically. "Why?"

"They married, obviously," was the fairy's exasperated reply. "They both have magic. Do you not know that?"

"Of course I do, woman," Draco replied coldly, forgetting his manners. "I'm not stupid, like certain people I know." He was referring to Harry Potter, of course. Mrs. Callide's eyes narrowed, crinkling the skin around her eyes, and she inhaled shallow breaths.

"Do not insult my daughter," she spat; her hand rose as if to strike him, but it fell back down.

"I wasn't insulting her," Draco replied. "I was referring to my enemy, Harry Potter, who is a incorrigible piece of filth! He thinks he can go around, breaking rules and pretending to save everyone, but he cannot! He is just an insecure fool who somehow always gets his way! Everyone thinks he is good at Quidditch, but he is not! That bloody git! I swear batty old Dumbledore thinks he is so bloody wonderful, so he hardly gets into any trouble! If he were here right now, I would take his eyes right out of his sockets and make him suffer. I'd crush his bloody face in and stamp his ribs to splinters!" Having finished his speech, Draco was infuriated and he walked around the room several times, grinding his fists together and clenching his teeth. Mrs. Callide carefully hid a surprised look.

"Are you jealous of him, Draco?" she asked calmly, taking him by surprise.

"Of course not. I never want to have a stupid scar on my forehead," he sneered. "And I don't want to be in Gryffindor. It's a idiotic house with idiotic people in it." Draco's head was clouded with fury, and he simply could not stop talking.

"I see," Mrs. Callide whispered.

"You don't see! That is the problem! No one knows what I'm going through!" Draco yelled. "They don't notice that I'm all alone, with the exception of two clods of bodyguards. Moreover, to top it off, I am nearly failing out of Transfiguration. Everyone looks at me like I am disgusting and should not be touched, but they do not know that it is bloody hard to be me! I cannot take it anymore. My father does not…" Draco paused, trying to get the word out without choking. 

"…Love me. I know he does not. I look up to him. My mother would be happy without me. They want me gone, I know it. I'm all alone in this stupid world," he added, lying on the couch. "I wish I was dead." Draco shut his eyes, not wanting to see the cold world in which he was living. He shuddered involuntarily, trying to swallow the block that had appeared in his throat. He turned his head away from the fairy, his throat hurting miserably. Suddenly, he felt something warm brush away his hair from his forehead. He opened his eyes slowly to find Mrs. Callide sitting next to him, looking at him fondly.

"It's all right," she said. "It will be all right." Draco sighed.

"I wish," he muttered, and stared miserably at his feet. His peace was interrupted when Julian came down the stairs and looked at him curiously.

"Why are you on the couch?" Julian asked. "Stomach ache?"

"No. I was tired," Draco snapped sarcastically. Julian shrugged and Mrs. Callide stood.

"I request that you two come with me," she insisted, capturing both boys' attentions.

"Where are we going?" Julian wondered. Mrs. Callide grabbed a shawl from a hook besides the door.

"To the king," she replied. "Normally I don't make visits bothering the king, but I am sure that this situation is necessary for him to know." Mrs. Callide's hand hovered above her head, and in an instant, her hair was sparkling and bright.

"Oh," Julian muttered, and Draco got off the couch and walked to the door. "Wait for me," Julian added, and joined them at the entrance. Then they stepped outside and hurried down the dirt road.

The king's palace was magnificent in size and in style. It had four levels, with its windows facing the street. It had cylindrical towers that had vines circling around it, and its windows were diamond shaped and seemed to sparkle with the light of the sun. What was most remarkable about the windows was that they each seemed to reflect a different colour, so that the windows were tinted. Draco had to admit that it was very stylish, but not as much as his manor. Perhaps he was being a little too hasty. The fences surrounding the palace had curlicue ends and shimmered like water. Mrs. Callide stopped right in front of the gate and waited for a minute, much to the confusion of Draco and Julian. A little box appeared out of nowhere next to the gates, looking like a Muggle walkie-talkie.

"Who's there?" the voice came out of the box clear and distinct. It was obvious that a man had asked this question.

"Delia Callide. I've come to speak to the king about an urgent matter," Mrs. Callide insisted. A harsh, bellowing laugh echoed from the box.

"That's what they all say. State your problem, miss," the voice chuckled.

"Here with me are two human beings that have come into Imbrix," Mrs. Callide said. "I wish to speak with the king." Draco could hear the man who was speaking into the box tremble.

"Hold on," the voice quivered, and there was a click. The next instant, several fairy males, heavily clad with armour and carrying large spears, ran to the gates. A male wearing a fancy helmet glared at them particularly cruelly.

"The humans go first," he bellowed. "Rule 235a." Draco and Julian shivered, but stepped forward nonetheless. Instantly the gates melted away, so the fairies could surround the two boys. They had no way to escape. A fairy in his late teens, who was grinning cheekily, escorted Mrs. Callide. After the gates closed behind them, they walked to the palace doors quickly. The leader knocked on the door, which became transparent to reveal a short maid.

"Yes?" she asked quietly.

"Business with the king," the leader said simply, making the maid open the door so they could step inside. The inside of the palace was even more stylish and beautiful than the outside, which was saying something. The fairy guards, or soldiers, Draco assumed, led them to a large room. It was lavishly decorated, with light blue banners that hung down behind the throne. The walls must have been painted a golden yellow, because they shone as the sun's rays bounced against them. The only source of light seemed to come from the ceiling, as there did not seem to be a chandelier or anything on it. Draco looked up to investigate and saw that the whole ceiling was illuminated. Some magic! There, in the middle of the room, the king sat on a diamond throne next to a beautiful woman, who was apparently his wife. The leader of the guards swaggered to the king's throne.

"Hello, Patricus," the king greeted him with a smile. "What is it?"

"Humans have come into Imbrix," Patricus said sternly. "They're with us."

"What?" the king exclaimed, rose from his seat, and walked closer to Patricus. "You don't mean that, do you?" Patricus nodded slowly and the king sighed. "I thought I increased the shield's security," he remarked, glancing at Draco and Julian.

"There they are, your majesty," Patricus said.

"Bring them to me," the king ordered, and so Patricus hastily pulled Draco and Julian's arms. Draco stared straight into the king's eyes. He was not afraid of the king. Julian, on the other hand, was fidgeting and trembling slightly. "What are your names?" the king asked crisply and staring at them fiercely.

"Draco Malfoy," Draco said, pointing to himself. "This is Julian Earlingston."

"How did you come into Imbrix?" the king demanded of them.

"We followed--" Julian began, but was cut off when he saw Draco shake his head quickly.

"Who? Whom did you follow?" the king asked. "They will be punished immediately."

"No one," Draco said quickly. "We followed no one. We were walking through a forest, and found ourselves to be here." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mrs. Callide sigh with relief.

"But you met Delia, didn't you?" the king inquired sharply.

"Yes," Draco replied. 

"She said we had to be soldiers," Julian added. Draco wanted to kick him for bringing up that topic again.

"Right. That is the punishment, after all," the king said, pacing back and forth. "I can't believe this is happening. I want both of you--Julian and Draco, I think-- to go with Patricus. He will take you to our Imbrician military training fortress. Patricus, take them to Jendia now." Patricus nodded, and turned around, walking to the exit. The king sat back down in his seat as a sign that their conversation was over. Draco could not do anything but follow the buff fairy out the palace. Julian did as well.

"Here you are," Patricus held out his hand. "Jendia's registration booth."

"Oh great," Draco muttered under his breath, but stepped up to the booth where a buxom, middle-aged fairy lady was sitting.

"How may I help you?" the lady said in a somewhat nasal voice.

"New recruits," Patricus pointed. "Human boys." The lady nodded as if there was a hidden message in that simple statement.

"I see," the lady sighed. "Names?"

"Draco Malfoy," Draco said.

"Julian Earlingston," Julian added. The lady pulled out a flower and pressed it to a piece of parchment with many names on it. Instantly, their names appeared on it, the lady's head came up, and nodded to Patricus. Patricus motioned the two boys to follow him, and he led them towards many small tents behind the Jendia building. He squinted his eyes, and then pointed.

"There's your tent," he said. "Number 88." Draco sighed when he saw that the tent 88 was one of the smaller tents, but he did not say anything. He walked quickly to the tent that was about to become his new home. Julian groaned as soon as Patricus was out of hearing distance.

"It's so small," he whined. "Small and ripped."

"Shut up, Julian," Draco said. "We don't have a choice." Julian sighed, but crawled into the tent. 

"Well, it's nice and cosy in here," he said, his voice muffled. "Rather homey, too."

"I bet," Draco said dryly, and was about to say more when a tall, blond fairy came to his side. The tall fairy grumbled in his throat, making Draco look at him. "What do you want?" Draco asked sharply.

"It's not time for horsing around," the fairy said gruffly and stuck out his chest so that his pin labelled 'Nas T. Vole, Captain' could be seen more clearly. Draco stifled a laugh.

"So sorry, Mr. Vole," Draco said sarcastically. "What should we be doing?"

"You should be doing your afternoon routine," Vole replied, and Julian came out of the tent, dusting his knees.

"What if we don't want to, Nas?" Draco drawled. "What are you going to do, stare at us?"

"I'm going to do much worse than that," Nas replied cruelly. "I'm going to bash your bloody heads in." Julian gulped and stared at Nas. The buff fairy was not to be crossed.

"We're coming," Julian replied and stood straight. Nas nodded, and walked away with Draco and Julian following him. They came to a grassy field with several lines of men who were standing as though they had been frozen. Nas motioned them to stand at the back of the line nearest to him, which they did obediently. Draco groaned. Exercises? At this time of day? He grimaced and looked into the clear blue sky.


	4. Letters to Pansy

Alexander sighed and looked at the clouds in the sky

A/N: Everything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling. Whatever you don't belongs to me. Especially Alexander.

The Second Realm

Chapter Four: Letters to Pansy

Alexander sighed and looked at the clouds in the sky. He could not have been happier with Katie, but there was a guilty feeling pricking the back of his conscience. It was not right to leave Julian and Draco all alone in a cabin, having nothing to do.

"Alexander? Are you all right?" Katie asked gently, breaking his thoughts. Alexander lowered his head to see that Katie was looking at him worriedly.

"Yes, I'm all right, but I can't help thinking how bored Julian and Draco must be," he said. "I'd hate to be stuck in a cabin all alone."

"I would too," Katie agreed. "Perhaps we can drop by for a visit without anyone noticing," she added, a mischievous smile growing on her face.

"That's not a bad idea," Alexander remarked. "Let's do it." He stood and turned around to help Katie to her feet. Then they were off to the small brown cabin in which their friends had been imprisoned. Alexander knocked on the cabin's door, but there was no reply. In fact, there was not even a bit of noise that they could hear which could be identified as Draco or Julian.

"Odd. They might be asleep," Katie said, "but it's the middle of the afternoon." Puzzled, she tried the door handle and twisted it. To their surprise, the door opened to reveal…nothing. No one was in the cabin. Alexander walked in and looked around.

"They're not here," he said incredulously. "I don't believe it." Katie rushed in and saw that he was right. She walked closer to the middle of the room and saw an opening that led to a forest. 

"Alexander," she breathed. He came to her side and stared at the forest.

"What is that? It must be a portal of some kind…" Alexander drifted off and stepped closer to investigate, but Katie stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Be careful," she pleaded. "We don't know if the forest is safe or not. I don't want you to die." Alexander opened his mouth to speak, but could not get past the syllable "Ah." Katie quickly pecked him on the cheek and held his hand. 

"Shall we?" she asked, smiling at him. He did not seem to be able to speak, as he was in shock.

"Er, yes," he croaked. "But I do not see- why did you- I am not that special," he ended weakly. Katie's eyes glimmered brightly.

"Yes you are," she said softly. "You care." Alexander was confused, but he did not press the issue further. He inhaled deeply and came to the portal so closely that his nose barely touched it. With many doubts clouding his mind, he and Katie walked forward into the unknown.

Bright sunlight shone straight into Alexander's eyes, so he had to shield them with his hand in order to see where they were. Tall, burly trees stood around them, trying to reach the puffy white clouds that danced in the sky. He glanced at the ground, only to see moss, leaves, and dirt. They were in a forest. (Obviously.) Katie gasped.

"I know where we are," she breathed. Alexander gaped at her.

"You do? How is that possible?" he asked curiously.

"It's rather embarrassing, really, but since we are here…I've been here in my dreams," Katie explained, blushing slightly. "I believe this is the Moonlight Forest, near the land of Imbrix."

"Nice name," Alexander commented. "What is Imbrix like? We may want to go there for shelter, and to look for Julian and Draco... This is almost too impossible to believe."

"Quite impossible. We definitely should go to Imbrix, as it is a land governed by fairies, and it might be the place where Julian and Draco have gone. I must say that the capital city is quite beautiful," Katie sighed. "Especially the palace."

"Let's waste no time in getting there, then," Alexander said firmly. "Do you know the way? Since, after all, you've been here before." Katie turned a light shade of pink as Alexander looked at her expectantly. 

"Yes, I think I do. Just follow me," Katie said, embarrassed, and started to walk north, not unlike the way Saffron had led Julian and Draco. Alexander followed her closely, painfully aware of the emotions that were rampaging through his brain.

"One…two…three," Draco gasped. Push-ups are nasty things, and dreadfully hard to do, he thought bitterly. Julian, on the other hand, had already done fifteen, and was not looking too worn out. Nas T. Vole stood near them, staring menacingly at Draco.

"Faster, runt!" he barked. "I do not tolerate such slowness."

"Mudblood," Draco muttered under his breath. Although Vole was a fairy, Draco felt such rage that he resorted to shoddy insults. Vole kicked him painfully hard, and Draco cringed as he pushed himself up from his seventh push-up.

"Quicken the pace, do you hear me?" Vole screamed. "All of you! Faster!" Just to show how tough he was, he kicked Draco in the leg harder than before. Draco bit his lip, trying desperately not to become teary. Vole walked away from him to inspect the other males. Burning with anger, Draco let it all loose.

"That stupid git! Bloody a--hole! 'Faster, faster,' he says, but I'm not going to do it!" Draco hissed, and abruptly stood up. He had completed twenty push-ups, which was fine by him. In fact, even twenty was torture. Julian noticed that Draco was not doing anything, so he decided to stop too.

"I can't take it anymore," Julian muttered to him. "This is horrible."

"I'm surprised, I thought you liked it," Draco said sourly. "Forty-eight!" Draco glared at Julian, who suddenly became angry.

"Shut up. Just because I did more doesn't mean I like it," Julian snapped. "I'd rather be doing something -anything- else!" Draco, so weary from his hard workout, was not able to come up with a sharp retort, so he was silent. Some of the males around them also noticed that they were not doing push-ups, and stopped as well. One fairy in particular stood up, panting and wheezing gaped at them, astounded.

"I can't believe you did that," he said. "You're remarkably brave."

"It's nothing," Julian replied.

"That git Vole has tortured us for an hour," Draco said. "That's plenty for me."

"Well, he can get away with it," the fairy remarked. "He's the captain."

"STOP!" Vole barked suddenly, and everyone dropped to the ground tiredly. "Now, you will do ten laps around the field! Now!" Vole screamed. There were choruses of groans, but the soldiers in training started to jog around the edges of the field, Draco and Julian included.

"By the way, my name is Nave Macca," the fairy panted. "Who're you?"

"Draco Malfoy," Draco said. "He's Julian Earlingston."

"Oh. Neat," Nave gasped. "You must be fairly new recruits, since I haven't seen you before." Julian nodded enthusiastically as he inhaled deeply, trying to obtain some air. "You know, after I finish my time in the army, I want to marry my girlfriend Quennifer Callide and have a couple of children."

"Callide? As in Saffron Callide?" Julian asked. Nave looked somewhat surprised.

"Yes, how did you know?" Nave wondered. Julian blushed redder than he already was, making his face scarlet.

"I've met Saffron," Julian said quickly. "She's quite pretty."

"Ha! I knew you fancied her!" Draco exclaimed. Julian looked furious with himself.

"Shut up, Draco," Julian grumbled. 

"Well, Quennifer is much prettier than her sister," Nave declared. "If you think Saffron is great, she's nothing compared to Quen." Draco snickered.

"Oh really?" Draco smirked. "I'm sure she's pretty, in your opinion." Nave's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Don't mind Draco," Julian commented. "He's just jealous because he doesn't have a girlfriend." Draco scoffed.

"Of course I have one," he snapped. "A rich, pretty one too," he added.

"Really? What's her name?" Nave asked curiously. I do not know why he cares, Draco thought exasperatedly. 

"Pansy Parkinson," Draco muttered, thinking of the first girl that came to his mind. Julian scoffed.

"That's a ridiculous name," he laughed. Draco had to admit that he was right. Nevertheless, he had already admitted that she was his girlfriend, so now he was stuck with that fact.

"Fine, don't believe me. It's not as if I actually consider you friends," Draco glared at Nave and Julian, who had hurt looks on their faces.

"Where did that come from?" Julian asked in disbelief. "We are talking about girls, not whom you consider to be your friends. That was really non sequiter."

"Very random indeed," Nave commented.

"I suppose," Draco sighed. 

"Write to her," Nave blurted. Draco stared at him.

"What?"

"You know, write her a letter," Nave said. "I'm sure she wants to hear from you." Draco scoffed. Pansy wanted him to write her a letter for the last four years, and he was sure that if he did send her a letter, she would faint with shock. It was not that Draco hated her, (in fact, she could be considered a friend) but it was that his father approved of her…which annoyed him. Perhaps it was the teenage rebel in him, but he would rather do what his father disapproved of…most of the time. Lucius's punishments were harsh and cruel, and Draco despised every one of them.

"Maybe I will," Draco said, considering the option. He would like to see how she would reply.

"How do you send a letter here?" Julian asked.

"By dragonfly," Nave replied. "They're quite reliable and swift. I've got one in my tent that you could use."

"Gear," Julian breathed.

"Thanks," Draco said, only realizing afterwards what he had said. Thanking somebody? He groaned inwardly. He was becoming too soft for his own good.

"You're welcome," Nave replied.

"You know, that reminds me…" Julian began. "I should write a letter to Ron saying hi and all that rubbish." Nave nodded as if he knew what Julian was talking about. By this time, they had finished seven laps, so they still needed to do three more. The rest of their exercises passed by slowly, but when they were done, all of the soldiers were allowed a thirty-minute break. Draco, Julian, and Nave strolled the short distance to Nave's tent, which he shared with two other fairies. They crawled in the tent and Nave got out a jar with a holed lid, which he showed to Draco and Julian. A blue bottled, sparkling dragonfly was inside, buzzing happily.

"I call him Moss," Nave said. "Don't ask me why." Moss buzzed nonchalantly, making Julian smile. Draco nodded at the dragonfly.

"Do you have parchment and a quill?" Draco asked flatly. He had no idea what to write to Pansy, and it would be even worse because his two companions would probably be looking over his shoulder. Nave nodded, and pulled out a short quill and a piece of parchment from his bag.

"Here you go," Nave replied, and handed them to Draco, who nodded his thanks. Draco started to write.

__

Pansy,

How is your summer going? Mine could be better. I am in a military camp, or more specifically, a magical land called Imbrix. It sounds strange, but don't say anything. I want you to keep this absolutely to yourself. In case you are wondering, dragonflies are the only method of communication this pathetic land has. Write back as soon as possible, I'm bored. 

Draco Malfoy

Draco signed his name with a flourish. At least this might keep him entertained for a while. He grinned roguishly, folded the piece of parchment until it was a tiny square, and handed it to Nave. Nave opened the dragonfly's jar, and Moss flew out, hovering over the ground. The fairy opened his hand so that the dragonfly could grab the letter, which it did immediately.

"Give this to Pansy," Draco said and the dragonfly flew out the tent. "Do you think he understood me?" he added as he gazed outside.

"Of course he did," Nave responded. "Smartest dragonfly ever."

"I hope so," Draco muttered.

The rest of the day progressed remarkably quickly, and Draco was overjoyed to find that it was dinnertime. He trudged to the Dining Hall, where he had to stand in line to receive his food. 'Actually, the food does not look that grotesque,' Draco admitted to himself. After the hard exercise he had had, he would have eaten anything. He sat down at a table with Julian, Nave, and some other people to eat, which reminded him of his happy time eating with Julian and Alexander. Although he had only been in the army one day, he hated it already. Sadly, he had no other choice. Why does life have to be so hard sometimes? Draco thought sadly. I want to be with my father. An annoying buzzing in his ear interrupted his thoughts and his meal. He glanced at his shoulder and saw that the dragonfly had returned. That quickly? He reached over and took the tiny piece of parchment that the dragonfly carried on its back. Unfolding it, he read:

__

Dear Draco,

Thank you for your letter. What suddenly made you send something now, after all this time? Never mind that. My summer is going quite well, though I'm sorry to read that your summer is not. How could you have traveled into a magical land like Imbrix? I did some reading (don't worry, I'm not going to become like Mudblood Granger) and saw that Imbrix, or the fairies in it, are at war with the Traskin trolls over a long-term grudge. Oh no! Draco, you're going to have to fight the trolls (if you're in a military camp) over the Moonshadow Sceptre! I can't believe this…you cannot! You mustn't! The Traskin trolls are known to rip the skin off their victims and eat their hearts. Gross…it gives me shivers just thinking about it. Write back as soon as possible.

Yours truly,

Pansy

Draco was in shock. They were going to fight over a stupid stick? Even worse, they were going to fight trolls?

"What does the letter say?" Julian whispered.

"Nothing," Draco replied shortly.

"It must say something worth reading about," Nave muttered. "You're looking at it as if it might burst into flames."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Draco said cruelly. "It only says that we're going to fight trolls for a stupid sceptre." Nave nodded. "You knew that? You knew and didn't tell us?" Draco exploded and Nave stared innocently at him.

"I thought you already knew," Nave said simply.

"I don't believe this," Julian groaned.

"Neither do I," Draco remarked, sighing. "Bloody trolls." Just then, Julian took the letter from Draco's hands and peered at it. Draco was distraught with worry so he did not notice. He did hear Julian's gasp, however, and turned his head to look at him.

"It sounds like Pansy cares about you," Julian chuckled. "It is sweet. 'You mustn't!' she says," he gave the letter back to Draco and continued stuffing broccoli in his mouth.

"I'd rather you not look at my private mail, thank you very much," Draco said stiffly. 

"Sorry," Julian said thickly, his mouth crammed with broccoli.

"I should write her back," Draco muttered to himself. Nave immediately took out a quill from his pocket. "What the-?" Draco gasped.

"Thought you would write your girlfriend back," Nave said. Draco grinned and began to write on the back of Pansy's letter.

__

Pansy,

Thank you for your information. Bloody trolls…I don't believe it. They could attack at any moment, I've heard. Right now I am eating, and just got your letter. I have to fight; otherwise, they will kill me. The king said so himself. Personally, I would rather leave, but they might catch me, and who knows what will happen then?

Draco

PS. Yours truly? Are you serious?

Julian looked at the letter Draco had just finished writing, and shook his head.

"That's too cold," he muttered. Draco threw down his quill.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You should add more nice things," Julian replied. "Mush. Girls adore that, or at least, I know my mother does."

"I do not write…mush," Draco said delicately.

"I'll help you," Julian suggested eagerly.

"No," Draco shook his head.

"Yes," Julian said. "If you don't let me, I will punch you in the face." Draco sighed. He has simplistic threats. He went back over his letter and Julian pointed out things he could affix or modify. The letter now looked like this:

__

Dear darling Pansy,

Thank you for your information, I really loved you doing that for me. Bloody Those trolls…I don't believe it. They could attack at any moment, I've heard. I cannot help but be frightened. Right now I'm eating, and I just got your letter. Don't worry about me, Pansy, I will be fine. I have to fight; otherwise, they will kill me. The king said so himself. Personally, I'd rather leave, but they might catch me, and who knows what will happen then? I can't bear to think of it. Write to me every day. I cannot survive without your letters.

Love,

Draco

PS. Yours truly? Are you serious? I think of you constantly, dear Pansy.

"What the hell have you done?" Draco read it over again angrily. "It sounds like a bloody love note!"

"That was the point," Julian said quietly. Draco groaned.

"God, I'm not that pathetic," Draco scoffed. "It sounds like a girl wrote it…except for the fighting part."

"Excuse me for trying to help your love life along," Julian spat. "I won't do it again."

"That would be good," Draco said sourly and was about to crumple the sickeningly sweet note when Moss the dragonfly snatched it and flew away. Draco swore loudly.

"Oh, no," Julian muttered.

"My reputation will be ruined," Draco groaned and his head fell on the table with a thump. "She'll never look at me the same way again."

"Don't worry, Draco," Julian said. "It might be good for you. You can have snogging sessions underneath the moon…ah, so romantic." Draco gagged.

"Why would I want to snog a girl now?" Draco wondered, mostly to himself.

"Heck, I'd snog any good looking girl," Julian remarked. "It's a bonus that she cares for you deeply. That means extra chances of kissing her." However, I don't want to kiss her, Draco thought glumly, but didn't say anything to Julian.

"Draco, you will be thanking Julian one day," Nave said. "Trust me."

"Right," Draco said in disbelief. "Of course."


	5. The Moonlight Sceptre

Alexander gasped at the little town that lay before him

A/N: Whatever you do recognize is JK Rowling. Whatever you don't recognize is mine, especially Alexander.

The Second Realm

Chapter Five: The Moonlight Sceptre

Alexander gasped at the little town that lay before him. It was breath taking, and what was even more incredible, he was alone with a stunningly beautiful girl who was very close to him.

"It's exactly how I remembered it," Katie breathed, and became extremely excited. "We're here! We're going to see all the fairies! I can't believe it!" She jumped up and down, bouncing cutely. She was so excited that she gave Alexander a tight hug and leaned her head against his chest. Alexander's heart beat quickly; he had never been this close to a girl before.

"Er, I can't wait," he said hesitantly, not sure what to with his hands.

"I hope they're friendly, though," Katie remarked, moving herself away from him. Alexander felt sad, but did not know why.

"I'm sure they will be. I mean, they're fairies," Alexander managed to say.

"Yes, of course," Katie agreed and turned her head to look at the sunset. "Look at that sunset! Isn't it fascinating?"

"Yeah, beautiful," Alexander murmured, but he wasn't talking about the sunset. Katie turned to him suddenly.

"Alexander, I know this will sound random, but do you like adventures?" Katie asked. Alexander was slightly confused with the question. Adventures? He had never had one.

"Yeah, I suppose, although I haven't ever been on one," he replied. Katie then looked thoughtful, and did not say anything for a few minutes.

"I guess we should proceed, then," Katie said softly. "It's getting darker."

"Right. Maybe we should," Alexander replied, and started to walk toward the elegant fairy town, Katie right behind him.

"Ow," Julian whined. "My muscles have all seized up."

"I ache all over," Nave complained.

"Weaklings," Draco scoffed, but he was aching as well and winced very noticeably. Julian and Nave chuckled, angering Draco slightly. He hated people laughing at him. The three boys walked to their tents, having completed their day of training. Julian and Draco said goodnight to Nave, and trudged to their very small tent. Julian sighed.

"One day down, another five thousand more," he said glumly. Draco had to agree. Soon afterwards, Moss the little dragonfly zipped quickly into their tent. Draco gasped in spite of himself.

"The dragonfly is back," Draco breathed.

"See? Pansy was probably so taken with your letter that she wrote as quickly as possible," Julian grinned, earning him a cold look from his friend. Draco carefully unfolded the letter, not knowing what to expect. He read it to himself

__

Draco,

Have you completely lost it? Honestly, you've never acted this way before…are you feeling all right? I'm very sorry you have to fight, so good luck. You'll need it. These people are so primitive. Dragonflies, heh. It took me five minutes just to catch the stupid thing. I have to go soon, we're having a late meal and my parents are expecting guests. Too bad you aren't here to keep me company. Two old men…I don't think I can stand it.

Pansy

"Draco, put the letter away!" Julian hissed. "Vole is coming!" Draco quickly stuffed the letter into his pocket and lay on his sleeping mat as if he was tired. Just then, Nas T. Vole stuck his brutish head inside the tent to check on them.

"Stop talking and go to sleep!" Vole barked. "Otherwise, you will be doing push-ups until dawn! We have to shape you wimps into soldiers."

"Yes, sir," Julian muttered, and Vole, apparently satisfied with his meek reply, pulled his head from inside the tent and walked away. Julian sighed in relief. "I hate him," Julian breathed and got into his sleeping bag. "Good night."

"Yeah. Night," Draco mumbled, and covered himself with a blanket. He was so weary that he fell asleep almost instantly…

Draco was running. Where he was or from whom he was running he didn't know, but he had to travel as quickly as possible. He could hear curses being shouted and footsteps crunching behind him. Run! Run! Draco's mind was pounding as he ran. Suddenly, he tripped over a tree root and sprawled on the forest floor. It hurt badly, and he yelled in anguish. He could hear voices in front of him.

"What happened?" a distinctly familiar voice asked anxiously. "Julian, where are you?" Draco suddenly realised that this was rather like the night after the Quidditch World Cup. Weasley had been on the ground, while Draco was watching besides a tree, laughing quietly at his stupidity. Sure enough, he heard another voice, but it was not Weasley's.

"No, no, no, not him. Not this way," a girl sobbed. Draco got to his feet, feeling the pain that was coursing through his right foot.

"Who?" the first voice wondered. "Who are you talking about?"

"Alexander…he's been killed, Julian," the girl cried. Draco froze. No…it couldn't be. 

"Oh no," Julian gasped. "But…how?"

"Killed…by Him," the girl said shakily.

"I can't believe it," Julian murmured. "He was my best friend…it must be hard for you too, Katie." 

"He's gone…forever," Katie said tearfully. "I…loved him." Draco wondered who had killed Alexander, and why. What was the meaning of this? His thoughts were interrupted by a shock of pain in his lower back. He groaned.

"Run, Katie! They're coming!" Julian yelled, and disappeared into the dark green foliage. Katie didn't run, however, but leaned closer to Draco.

"You killed him," she hissed. Draco tried to open his mouth to retort something back, but blood dripped out instead of words.

"No…no…" Draco whispered.

"You killed him," Katie repeated. "How could you? Killing your friend! Evil wizard…"

"NO! NO!" Draco yelled to her, but blackness was filling his eyes- the pain was getting stronger- 

"You bastard!" Katie screamed, and her face was becoming disfigured, like a snake, cold and harsh. 

"NO! STOP! NOOOOO!" Draco screamed. There seemed to be a voice in his ear calling to him. 'Draco…Draco….' "I DIDN'T DO IT! NO! GO AWAY!" Draco yelled.

Draco woke up in a cold sweat, staring into the concerned face of Julian. He groaned and fell back on the ground.

"You all right?" Julian asked. "You kept screaming and twisting…I thought something was wrong." Draco muttered something into his pillow. Julian grabbed his shoulder and twisted it so that Draco's head was out of the pillow.

"What did you say?" Julian continued.

"Nothing. It was a bad dream," Draco retorted. "Shut up and let me go back to sleep."

"If that's so, why are you grimacing?" Julian wondered. Draco shrugged, coughing slightly. However, the light cough brought Draco immense pain. His shirt seemed to be quite damp. Draco touched the skin of his lower back under his shirt, and stared at his fingers. They were soaked in blood.

Lucius Malfoy awoke with a start, gasping like a fish out of water. 'Lousy nightmare,' Lucius thought as he got out of bed to pour himself a drink. He hated nightmares because they were so childish. This nightmare had been different, though. He had dreamed that he was soaked in blood, trembling with pain, and staring at his son, Draco, who was smirking evilly at him. 'Good bye Father,' Draco had hissed. 'See you in Hell.' Lucius did not like the sound of those words. They seemed too foreboding. To add to his discomfort, his upper arm had started to ache severely again. That meant that Voldemort wished to speak to all of the Death Eaters, or he was furiously mad. Lucius sighed deeply. Couldn't Voldemort contact him earlier than two am in the morning? He gulped down a shot of vodka and grimaced at the strong, bitter taste. However, the tart taste of the alcohol did nothing to placate his worry about Draco. His entire future depended on his son, whether he liked it or not. 

"Too much depends on him," Lucius sighed. What was disturbing was that Draco had only sent him one letter in a week, unlike when he was at Hogwarts, sending a letter every three days. Draco's only letter remarked that the camp was horrible, but that he had made friends. Draco? Having friends? The very idea made Lucius cringe. He hoped that they were at least Dark wizards. The last bit of his son's letter was written by another boy, Julian Earlingston his name was. Lucius thought hard, trying to remember any bit of information about the Earlingstons, but could not think of anything. This 'Julian' character wanted to visit for a few days. Lucius did not recall a time when Draco had ever brought friends over, not even Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. He supposed Earlingston could stay, as it would probably make Draco happy, and more willing to follow his orders…

"Lucius?" a sickeningly sweet voice called. 'Narcissa,' Lucius thought. 'Probably wondering why I'm awake.'

"Yes?" he replied, straining to be pleasant.

"Are you all right?" his wife asked.

"Yes, of course," Lucius sighed. "Coming." Ignoring the stabbing pain in his arm, which had steadily increased each minute, he walked back to his bedchamber to fall asleep troubled.

Draco awoke that morning to sounds of yelling and pandemonium. Groaning, he got up and changed slowly into his clothes. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he noticed that Julian was asleep. I'll wake him afterwards, Draco thought, pulling on his pants. He had just finished when he heard a crackling sound. That's odd, Draco mused. Why does it smell like smoke? He felt very hot, and, not knowing why he felt so warm, looked at the roof of the tent. It was burning!

"Oh no," Draco moaned. "Julian!" His friend did not awaken. "JULIAN, WAKE UP!" Julian opened his eyes and stared upwards only to see blazing hot flames. He yelled and hastily scrambled out of bed, gathered his clothes, and yanked Draco out of the tent with him.

"Crap," Julian swore as he watched their tent fall. "Why did someone burn our tent?"

"I don't know," Draco admitted. "Probably 'cause we are humans." Julian did not have time to respond because just then, out of the forest, several hundred large, ugly, and hairy trolls stampeded towards the military fortress.

"You know, this might be a good time to run," Julian commented, Draco nodded, and so they sprinted in the other direction. The Traskin Trolls smashed the soldiers' tents to bits, which, unfortunately for them, were completely empty. After a while, the trolls concluded that the tents might actually be vacant and continued their rampage by walking toward the fairy tent.

"HURRY! GRAB YOUR WEAPONS AND FIGHT!" a general bellowed, attracting the attention of the fairy males and the trolls. The men rushed to grab their spears, slingshots, and wands, and turned around to meet their destiny. Draco really did not want to fight; in fact, he just wanted to get as far away as possible from the trolls. Julian snatched two swords, handed one to Draco, and prepared to fight. The Traskins were getting closer, some capturing fairies and ripping apart their skin to shreds, and some crushed fairies' head with their fists. All this bloodshed was starting to affect Draco, as he could never stand the stench of carcasses. 

"Watch out!" Julian yelled, breaking Draco's thoughts. He turned around with his sword in his hand, accidentally stabbing a troll who was about to attack him.

"Oops," Draco muttered, but Julian slapped him on the back cheerfully, unaware that a rather hairy troll was running furiously towards him. Draco acted quickly and stabbed it. The troll groaned and fell to the ground with its blood staining the grass. You enjoy killing, you know it, a nasty voice sneered in his head. NO! Draco thought back fiercely.

"Ugh," Julian moaned, having just smacked a short troll on the face. Draco noticed that several trolls were stomping toward him at once. Soon, some trolls had surrounded them. They were trapped. A troll with a nose ring stared at them evilly and grabbed them by their shirts.

"Two boys will make food

When we're in the mood.

Oh, we gnash and tear

Enemies, beware!" the troll growled, and Julian gulped. 

The trolls surrounding them took them to a rather large tree, and tied them to it. Julian looked frightened as the trolls drooled, smacking their lips loudly. Draco tried not to scream curses at their captors who were binding their arms and legs tightly with rope.

"I can't believe we've been kidnapped," Julian whispered.

"We're screwed," Draco groaned. "God, why did this have to happen to me?"

"I'll never see Mum or Dad again," Julian said. "I never got to say goodbye."

"Shut up," Draco murmured as the troll with the nose ring stomped closer.

"Now we are hungry

For a bloody snack.

If you try to flee,

We will eat your back," the nose-ring troll snarled. What a stupid rhyme, Draco thought.

"Eat dung, trolls!" he yelled bravely. Many Traskin trolls were startled and some chuckled grotesquely at his foolishness. 

"Oh?" the trolls chorused, coming closer to their tree. 

"Go to hell, you hairy fools!" Draco exclaimed angrily. The trolls' amused looks turned into angry ones, frightening Julian.

"Idiot," Julian whispered, "you weren't supposed to insult them. Now they're mad."

"I know, I know," Draco said.

"Meat. Meat. MEAT!" the trolls growled, but stopped when the nose-ring troll rose his paw. 

"Take them from the tree

On the count of three.

Throw them in the pot

They have to be hot," the leader commanded fiercely, and before Draco and Julian could make a run for it, the trolls had untied them from the tree and stripped them of their clothing. Draco could see them drooling at the sight of young, healthy flesh. Julian's face was pale as he looked at his captors, and struggled weakly, which had no affect whatsoever. Then, the trolls led the two boys to a huge pot of scorching water. Oh no, Draco thought, They're going to boil me to death.

"Mum," Julian whispered, tears running down his cheeks, "don't let me die." Draco ignored Julian's plea for help, and instead, he focused on a plan of escape. As soon as the Traskin trolls threw them into the pot of water, he could quickly get out, pulling Julian out and running away as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I don't know how fast they run, Draco mused. This is pointless. I am going to die. He stepped closer to the pot, quietly accepting his fate. Julian had stopped crying, but his face was white as he stared at the bubbling water. He stood right by Draco silently and Draco could only assume that Julian's life was flashing by his eyes. Two husky trolls lifted them up, waiting for the signal to drop them in the pot. Draco's heart was beating very quickly now and he looked up towards the clear blue sky for what would probably be his last time. Bye Father, Draco thought miserably. 

"Throw them in, throw them in!" the trolls chanted deeply. Draco felt the troll's arms lower, getting ready to toss him. The other troll did the same. 

"Now," the leader said, and Draco felt himself fly for a moment before he hit the scalding water. He screwed his eyelids tightly as he plunged deeper. The water tore at his skin so viciously that he doubled up in pain. The need for oxygen was now strong, and so with his feet touching the bottom of the pot, Draco pushed himself up to the surface. He quickly grabbed the edge of the pot, which he found was like touching fire, and hoisted himself out of the hot water. As soon as he was out, he turned and saw that Julian was right behind him, very burnt and sore. Draco gave a fast nod, which Julian returned, and they stampeded past the trolls into the forest.

"They're getting away!" a troll screamed, making the whole tribe run after them. Draco's body stung all over and his hands were bleeding. He dodged numerous branches, stones, and animals as he continued to sprint through the forest. Julian was right behind him, breathing heavily and cursing the trolls. The trolls weren't far behind them now…Draco could hear their breath as they clomped on the mossy ground. He knew it wouldn't be long now before they caught and killed Julian and himself. Unfortunately, he was running out of breath and it was becoming harder to take a step.

"AH!" Draco shouted as he tripped over a tree root. Julian stopped to pull him up, but Draco could not run any more.

"Come on, Draco. We have to run," Julian urged him. Draco wiped his hair away from his sweaty forehead, smearing some blood across it with his hands. With a considerable effort, he got to his feet and started to run again. Julian was ahead of him now, running easily. Then, suddenly, Draco could no longer see his friend. It must be my eyes, Draco thought.

"Julian, where are you?" he pleaded tiredly. "Juli--eh!" Draco screamed as he plunged through the grass and fell down a concealed hole. He fell for a short while, then plopped on a pile of leaves. Breathing deeply, he looked around to see where he was, and saw Julian lying next to him with his eyes closed. "Wake up," Draco ordered, but Julian did not stir. In fact, his face was rather pale and he didn't seem to be breathing. "Wake up, Earlingston," Draco said again, shaking his friend's shoulders. Julian continued to be still.

"No," Draco whispered and cradled his head with his hands. You killed him, you disgusting little boy, his inner voice told him. You made him die. "No," Draco said aloud. You killed him, the voice in his head repeated. How could you? Killing your friend! Evil wizard… Seems like you're ready to join Voldemort, now.

"NO! I DIDN'T DO IT! GO AWAY!" Draco screamed to the voice, and fell on his back, shaking. Dead…I'm dying, Draco thought before he lost consciousness.

Lord Voldemort glared at the pale figure of Lucius Malfoy.

"Where's your son, now, Lucius?" he asked coldly. "That boy will be my next great servant, one who will bend to my every will and make me the most powerful wizard in the world." Lucius willed his hands to stop shaking, and tried to breathe normally.

"What do you mean, my Lord?" Lucius choked. "What makes my son so worthy to you?"

"Don't tell me you don't know, Lucius," Voldemort said silkily. "Your son has a gift, a very special gift, but one he cannot use unless he provokes it."

"Gift? I-- I was not aware of any such thing, my Lord," Lucius lied. "If you will, please explain." Voldemort paced back and forth as he spoke.

"I found that there was a powerful wizard via a spell Wormtail performed…The spell told me that power, much power, was located in Harry Potter (Voldemort and Lucius both cringed with disgust), and your son, Draco. However, he is the only one who has the power of Mind. If he's on my side, as my follower, I can 'persuade' him to control my victims…even better than the Imperious curse, I might add. It's more powerful," Voldemort finished softly. Lucius's heart was racing, his breathing was shallow, and his eyes were watering. 'Voldemort knows,' Lucius thought. 

"I cannot let you do that," Lucius said shakily. Voldemort glared at him viciously.

"Why not? Are you not my loyal servant, whose only thought is to follow my orders?" Voldemort bellowed. "I think you're afraid, Lucius. Afraid of what will become of your son. Pitiful. Purely pitiful."

"My Lord, I did not mean to imply that I was unfaithful," Lucius said.

"Really? I believe you did," Voldemort spat sourly. "You shall regret ever saying 'no' to Lord Voldemort. Crucio!" A silvery light burst out of Voldemort's wand and hit the tall blond man. Lucius fell to the ground, screaming and quivering under the curse. Voldemort looked down at him in distaste.

"You will bring him to me," he whispered. "He will become one of us." The curse had dissipated, but Lucius was still shivering. 

Draco awoke cold and dazed. What happened? he thought, feeling leaves underneath his fingers. He then saw Julian's stiff body. Oh, right. Julian. He turned away to look at the dirt walls of the hole he was in, silently cursing himself again. His one good friend, gone. Dead…gone.

"Urgh," a voice said. Draco couldn't tell if that was his voice or not, but who cared? He sighed and wondered if the trolls had completely passed them. He hoped so. "Eurgh," the voice repeated, making him wonder if he was sharing his hole with a bog monster rather than a dead body.

"Go away," he muttered sourly. He had enough strange things happening to him to last a while. 

"I can't exactly do that when I'm stuck in a hole," the voice retorted, sounding very familiar. Draco was puzzled and turned to see who was talking.

"Julian," he gasped. "But you're dead!"

"Of course I'm not," Julian said. "I was unconscious, though." Draco felt like an idiot. 

"Unconscious?" he wondered, staring at his still pale friend.

"Yeah. Now get up so we can climb out of this hell hole," Julian ordered sternly. Draco stood; Julian knelt. Draco placed one of his sore feet on Julian's shoulders and put his other foot on the empty shoulder as Julian stood up slowly. Standing on Julian's shoulders, Draco was able to reach the top of the hole with his hands. He grabbed the edge of the earth and pulled himself up and out of the hole. He swiveled around and took Julian by the hands to get him out of the hole as well. When they were both out, Draco was relieved but became embarrassed as he noticed he wasn't wearing anything.

"I'll be back," he mumbled and rushed to the safety of a tree in order to make some crude clothing. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to make any sort of clothing, since he considered sewing to be beneath him, it being a Muggle skill. He finally decided on awkwardly weaving leaves together to make a pair of shorts. When he had finished, he was not pleased with the results, but it would have to do. At least, Draco thought, I'm not going to go around nude anymore. He walked around the tree and looked for Julian. He couldn't believe what he saw. Julian was completely clothed in dark blue robes, and was sitting on a rock, twiddling his thumbs.

"What took you?" he asked, grinning cheekily. Draco's jaw dropped in indignation.

"How'd you do that?" Draco said.

"Do what?" Julian replied.

"Conjure some robes to wear," Draco said.

"It's my special talent," Julian smirked. "Nice shorts." Draco frowned.

"I demand that you give me some robes," he ordered. This time, it was Julian's turn to frown.

"Shame, leaves really did suit you," Julian said. "All right, if you insist." Draco couldn't help but smirk as Julian squinted his eyes and pressed his fingers to his forehead. Two seconds later, Draco felt himself being weighed down by something that made him warm. He glanced down at himself and saw that he was wearing light grey robes.

"Marvellous," Draco said, smirking. He then noticed that his friend was staring off into space with his head in his hand. What had made him change moods so quickly? "What's wrong now, Julian?" he added, crossing his arms and glared at Julian.

"Nothing. It's just that-- never mind, you don't want to know," Julian stammered and blushed, embarrassed. Draco saw his look and decided not to probe further.

"We still have to run. Those bloody trolls aren't going to give up," Draco sighed. Julian nodded, and they continued, having no idea where they were headed.

After an hour of walking, it started to rain heavily, making Draco groan and Julian sigh. The dark grey clouds were pouring rain as if their lives depended on it. The wind decided that it wanted some action, too, so it began to blow fiercely. Branches from various trees fell to the ground, making it rather dangerous to walk through the forest. Draco dodged a large branch that fell dreadfully close to him.

"Bloody branch," Draco cursed and kicked it, hurting his toe. He bit his lip and tried to ignore the sharp pangs in his toe as he walked forward. The wind was blustering intensely now and making Draco bend his head to keep his eyes protected.

"I think I see something!" Julian yelled over the howling of the wind and the whistling of the rain.

"What is it?" Draco called back. Julian opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything, a large branch cracked and fell on his head. Julian fell to the ground with a thud and it was all Draco could do not to yell. He bent over the fallen figure of his friend, shook his shoulders, and screamed "Wake up!" to Julian, but the wind carried the sound away. Draco heard a sharp snapping above him, got to his feet, and a second later, the world turned black and he knew no more.

Pansy Parkinson knew she should not be outside in the dark and stormy weather, but sometimes she liked to walk in the rain to ease her mind and stir her emotions. She was strolling in the forest near her house, admiring the scenery and enjoying the wind blowing through her hair. Just then, she hit her foot on something soft and looked down to see what it was. It was a figure of a boy who looked pale and nearly dead. Pansy jumped back in disgust. Gross! Pansy thought, and shivered. Then she saw another figure on the ground. On closer inspection, she saw that it was none other than Draco Malfoy. Pansy shrieked. What is he doing here? She could not believe it. She knelt and noticed he was bleeding on the forehead, face, and other places as well. Seeing Draco again brought back painful memories of rejection and tragedy. 

"Oh, Draco," Pansy murmured as she wiped the trickle of blood from his forehead. He didn't stir, but still bled terribly. She had to get him (and, she supposed, his companion as well) inside before he froze to death. With a surge of strength she didn't know she had, Pansy lifted Draco and carried him to her porch. She decided to set him down on the porch swing and turned to get Julian (she didn't know his name, of course). As soon as the two boys were safely resting on the bench, she ran inside to get her mother. Mrs. Parkinson was brushing her hair in front of a mirror and was considerably taken back when her daughter rushed in, breathing heavily.

"What ever is the matter, darling?" Mrs. Parkinson said stiffly. "You're so…out of breath."

"I apologize," Pansy said quickly. "You must listen, though. Draco Malfoy is outside on our porch." Mrs. Parkinson's eyes widened.

"Not the Draco Malfoy?" she asked. "The one who's been sending you love letters?"

"You've read my letters?" Pansy shrieked. Mrs. Parkinson sighed.

"Silly, immature child," she said simply while Pansy gaped at her.

"I can't believe you would do a thing like that!" Pansy exclaimed. "Invading my privacy like that…forget it. Draco is outside and he's bleeding, Mother."

"I shall send Erin to help you," Mrs. Parkinson said. "Run along now." Pansy nodded and ran down to the porch again, afraid Draco had left. Draco was still lying on the porch bench, his body slack and his mouth hanging slightly open. Pansy had to admit to herself that Draco looked extremely cute (even in the state he was in now), as he always was. Erin came a while later and helped her carry the two unconscious boys to her room as well as healing their cuts and wounds. Pansy nodded in thanks as he left the room; Erin tipped his hat. A groan escaped one of the boys, Pansy didn't know which, and so she rushed to their sides.

"Oh no," she murmured. The healing charm had removed all of Draco's cuts (and had fixed his concussion), but she didn't know if he was having nightmares or something like that. She stared worriedly at the blond boy, hoping he was all right. Draco's eyelids flickered and he awoke suddenly.

"What the--?" Draco gasped. "Ugh…"

"Hi Draco," Pansy said, blushing. 

"I…ah…how…where…" Draco hesitated, looking flustered. He sat up and noticed that Julian was right by him. 

"I found you in the forest near my house," Pansy explained. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be fighting? What happened? Why are--"

"Be quiet, Pansy," Draco interrupted her, finding his voice at last. "My head's hurting." Pansy became silent, and clenched her teeth in order to barricade her tears from flowing. Draco would never like her. The love of her life looked at her as though she had sprouted wings. He shook his head. "Look, some trolls came into the military fortress where we were. We tried to fight but were captured. And then somehow we managed to escape, and landed here." That being said, Draco dropped his arms flimsily and sighed.

"I see," Pansy chose as her intelligent reply. Draco crossed his arms and leaned against the pillows of her bed.

"Why did you bring me here?" Draco asked. 

"Unless you wanted to be left outside in the freezing rain to die, I say I did the right thing," Pansy snapped. "I was only trying to save your life. What do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from you," Draco said fiercely. "So I'll go now." Pansy stared at him with narrow eyes and her face crimson. Draco got off the bed and stood to face her, but before he could move any farther, she had slapped him hard on the cheek.

"How dare you," Pansy said. "You would have been dead if I hadn't found you."

"I don't want to hear anymore of your insolent chatter," Draco replied angrily, his cheek still stinging. "Just shut up."

"Shut up? Shut up?" Pansy shrieked and tears began to fall down her face. She looked at Draco incredulously and began to sob. "I can't shut up, Draco," she said sadly.

"Why can't you?" Draco replied nastily.

"I…I just can't," Pansy said, hurriedly wiping the tears from her face only to have more drip down. Draco stared at her.

"That's a stupid reason," he said and Pansy glared at him.

"Stupid…ha, you shouldn't be talking," Pansy said.

"Why not?" Draco snapped.

"Because if you weren't so stupid, you'd know how much I like you!" Pansy exclaimed and then clapped her hand to her mouth. Draco was stunned.

"What?" Draco gasped. Pansy wouldn't answer, but continued to clasp her hand to her mouth in disbelief, turned, and flew out the door. Draco watched her leave. Julian took this moment to awaken groggily.

"Whazzamatter, Drake?" he asked sleepily. Draco jumped, startled, but hardly gave a glance to acknowledge his friend's presence. 

"I don't believe it," he muttered.

"Believe what?" Julian asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Draco replied quickly. Julian raised an eyebrow at his quick reply, but said nothing for a while. Draco's mind was working at full speed to comprehend what Pansy meant. In his first year, she had lent him her Transfiguration book… She always seemed to want to talk to him… In his second year, she told her dislike of Potter to him… She sat near him in History of Magic… She asked how his arm had hurt after he had been 'attacked' by a Hippogriff… She accompanied him to the Yule Ball as well. It was amazing how an annoying person like that could somehow like him… Pansy really did like him. Isn't that lovely, Draco thought dryly, since she hates me right now. Oh well. It's not as if I care.

"Draco, snap out of it," Julian said, breaking his thoughts. Draco turned to look at him. "How did we get in here?" Julian wanted to know.

"Pansy took us in," Draco said simply. He didn't want to say any more right now. Julian's eyes widened.

"Pansy Parkinson? Did she kiss you?" Julian asked. When Draco didn't respond, Julian chuckled. "I see she did," Julian added, grinning.

"She did not," Draco replied grumpily. "Keep your comments to yourself." Julian grinned and looked around the room.

"Where is she?" he wondered aloud. "I don't see her hiding anywhere here. I'll go look in the other rooms," he walked out of Pansy's room, clattering down the stairs. Draco groaned and went after him.

Draco followed Julian into a room that could only be the parlor. To his surprise, Pansy was sitting on the window seat. Draco, feeling self-conscious, moved himself behind a bookcase, hiding from the view of Pansy.

"Hello there," Julian said cheerfully, walking up to Pansy. She was startled at the interruption and stared at Julian curiously.

"What's your name?" she asked, getting to her feet.

"Julian Earlingston," Julian replied, grinning. Pansy ignored his grin and frowned.

"Why did you come with Draco?" she said suspiciously. Julian sighed.

"Long story. Basically, I came along with him because he's my friend," Julian said. Pansy raised an eyebrow at this.

"Really?" she muttered. "Hum." Julian took this moment to change the subject.

"Nice house you've got here," he said politely. Pansy shrugged.

"It's nothing really," she replied and glanced over in Draco's direction. He stiffened, hoping she wouldn't notice. Apparently, she didn't. "Would you like to see my favorite room?"

"Sure," Julian said. Pansy smiled widely, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to a door on the left. She opened it slowly.

"I call it the Cloud Chamber, even though I really don't know its name or why it's here," Pansy remarked and stepped inside. Julian followed her and the door shut behind them. Draco's jaw dropped. The nerves of that girl, sucking up to Julian like that! He burned with rage as he heard laughter inside the room. I'm going in there, he thought, and turned the doorknob to the room quickly, stepping inside. Pansy saw him come in and nervously stared as he came closer to her.

"Hey, Drake," Julian said. "Cool room, isn't it?" Draco frowned.

"I don't know what you're talking abo--" he stopped speaking as he saw the inside of the room for the first time. The walls, ceiling, and floor were painted magically to look like moving clouds. He saw light, fluffy clouds floating past him at knee height, and glanced up to see a perfectly blue sky. "Wow," he breathed.

"Draco," Julian interrupted his thoughts. "I think there's a door opening right there." Draco looked down to see what Julian was talking about. Indeed, there was a door, about his height, opening right in front of him. He didn't know whether to be scared or curious, although he inspected it closely.

"Maybe one of us should go in to see what it leads to," Pansy said quietly. "I vote Julian goes."

"And why exactly would he go?" Draco asked suspiciously. Pansy sighed as if it was obvious, resting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, why?" Julian said.

"Because you're the bravest," she said, pushing him towards the door. Julian refused to go any farther and placed his feet firmly on the ground.

"I won't do it," Julian said loudly. "I won't."

"Oh, come on Julian," Draco sighed. "You can do it. There is nothing in there."

"Fine," Julian gave up, shaking his head; "I'll do it. You two have fun."

"Bye," Pansy waved as Julian walked into the room and giggled after the door closed behind him.

"Why did you want Julian to go?" Draco asked sharply. Pansy turned around nervously.

"You don't know?" she said. "You mean you haven't noticed?"

"Of course I have," Draco retorted.

"Oh, sure," Pansy said sarcastically, crossing her arms.

"Don't do that," Draco said angrily.

"Do what?" Pansy wondered, staring at him again. "Be sarcastic?"

"Yes, idiot," Draco snapped. "It's so bloody annoying." He was shocked to see that Pansy was smiling widely; he glared furiously at her, but she kept smiling. "What?" he asked.

"You're insulting me," Pansy said, brushing back a strand of hair. "Normal behavior for you. I thought you had lost it."

"Of course I didn't," Draco replied. "Honestly, I don't know where you got that idea."

"Shut up, Draco," Pansy murmured and kissed him fiercely. Draco staggered. Yuck! he thought, wiping his mouth with his sleeve as soon as she let go of him.

"So that's why you wanted me to go!" a voice exclaimed. Draco and Pansy jumped apart from each other quickly and guiltily, and stared at Julian, who was standing in the doorway. "Come on, you have to see the room." Julian turned and went back into it. Pansy blushed, but did not follow him yet.

"Let's go," Draco said and brushed past her into the hallway that led to the secret room. Pansy kept up with his stride, though, and walked by his side. He glanced at her; her face was a bright crimson and he could nearly feel the heat coming off her. She's so embarrassed, Draco thought and grinned cruelly. He was about to say something to her when he got a glimpse of the secret room. 

"Look," Julian whispered, pointing to a large pedestal. A silver sceptre had sparkling diamonds in its handle with a large moonstone on the end. It seemed to be shimmering in magic and Draco could feel its power coming off it in waves.

"Oh, it's wonderful," Pansy breathed and reached out to touch it. She pulled her hand back with a shriek. "It shocked me," she said angrily. "Stupid thing."

"It obviously doesn't like you," Draco rolled his eyes, and grabbed the sceptre, which, to his relief, did not shock him as it had done to Pansy. "See?" he held the sceptre up and waved it proudly in the air. 

"How did you do that?" Julian asked incredulously. 

"I just picked it up," Draco said, inspiring Julian to touch the large moonstone on the sceptre. He too drew his hand back quickly.

"It burned my skin!" Julian exclaimed, gingerly touching his tender skin and wincing. Draco shrugged and examined the sceptre curiously. It seemed to glow even more when he held it with both hands, Draco noticed with pleasure. Pansy looked on with interest as he rotated the sceptre in his hands, making him uncomfortable as he could feel her breath near his arms. He suddenly felt a surge of power coursing through his arms and a silver beam burst out of the sceptre, smacking Pansy. She screeched and bent over with pain.

"What did you…do?" Pansy wheezed.

"I don't know," Draco replied. "I was just going to tell you to stop breathing down my neck when the sceptre reacted like that." Julian goggled at the sceptre.

"I wouldn't try to hurt anyone with that," he said quietly.

"And why not?" Draco said.

"Do you really want to become a cold-blooded killer?" Julian retorted. Draco scoffed.

"I'm not like that," he replied simply. Pansy made a derisive sound and Draco glared at her. She stopped, but still shook her head sadly.

"Of course you're not," she replied dully. "You could be, though, easily."

"I did not ask for your opinion!" Draco snapped.

"I know you didn't. And don't shout at me," Pansy said fiercely. Draco sighed exasperatedly. He could never figure out women. Julian snickered.

"Bickering like a couple," he remarked. "What's next, Draco? Wedding bells?"

"No," Draco said so savagely that Julian looked shocked.

"Okay, okay," Julian muttered.

"AAAAAIIEEEEEEEARRRRGH!" something screamed. The three of them looked at each other in shock.

"What was that?" wondered Pansy. They wasted no time before they began to run out of the room, into the hallway and outside. There, coming through the woods and pouring rain, were the Traskin trolls riding on things that looked like winged scorpions.

"Oh my…" Pansy gasped. 

"Come on, we have to run," Julian said. "Pansy! Do you have horses? Steeds? Floo Powder?" Pansy paled and thought quickly.

"Yes, I do. Follow me!" she screamed and ran towards a building that looked like it was a stable. Julian and Draco ran after her quickly. Pansy got into a carriage with huge rocs attached to it. "Get inside! Hurry!" she added. Climbing into the carriage, Draco noticed that the seats were lined with velvet and the walls were made of a shiny, liquid-like fabric. 'Excellent,' he thought eagerly and sat down. As soon as Julian shut the door behind him, Pansy whipped the reins and the rocs took to the sky. Draco marvelled at how fast the rocs were flying. Then it occurred to him how odd it was for Pansy to have tamed rocs at her house.

"Why do you have tamed rocs in your stable?" he asked, drawling. Pansy stared at him incredulously.

"What? We're being chased by some ugly trolls and you are asking why I have tamed rocs in my stable?" Pansy shrieked, very confused.

"Yes, because they happen to be extremely dangerous, Parkinson," Draco replied, rolling his eyes. Pansy sighed.

"My father had special permission," she said. "He-" a gigantic arrow shot through and hit the opposite carriage wall. Pansy's eyes widened. Julian threw himself on the carriage floor.

"Duck!" he yelled. Draco got off the seat and hid himself in a corner, very low down to the ground. "It's not going to hold much longer!" Julian screamed and the carriage gave a shudder as if to visually demonstrate his meaning. Draco was disgusted to admit to himself that he was actually nervous.

"We've got to fight back!" Draco insisted. Both Julian and Pansy looked at him curiously.

"How?" Pansy yelled. "We've got no weapons!"

"Your wand, idiot!" Draco snapped. "Use your bloody wand!" Julian, as if on cue, pulled out two wands and handed one to Draco, who looked at it incredulously. It was his, Draco's very own wand. How did Julian retain it? 

"Yep, that's your wand," Julian grinned, reading his mind.

"But…how?" Draco stuttered. Julian waved it off with his hand.

"Shush and spew as many curses as you can," Julian ordered. Draco grinned. Curses were his speciality.

"Encanhea!" he shouted, waving his wand dramatically. The jet of light hit one of the trolls and he screamed because his blood had begun to boil. Draco racked his brain for another good curse.

"Simil acque," he said again. Two trolls began to twitch at the same time and fell off their winged scorpions. Draco cheered. Two down, five hundred and fifty five to go!

"Vesceris," Draco said immediately after he had cast his second spell. The Feeding spell ricocheted off one particularly ugly troll and hit his companion, who was flying near him. Both shrieked and slapped at their arms, which suddenly had thousands of leeches on them, sucking out some of their blood. Julian shivered at the sight of the leeches.

"Parun," Julian muttered, making one of the trolls fall off his winged scorpion with no eyesight whatsoever. The two boys continued to shout curses at the trolls, making quite a few of them fall of their scorpions. After a few more minutes, the Traskin trolls suddenly swerved around their scorpions and flew away from the three teenagers' carriage. Draco was perplexed. It wasn't natural for the attacker to flee for no particular reason…unless of course, it was planning an ambush. He had learnt all of this from his manners master, who had been a fighting expert (or so he said) and had taught Draco all of the basics.

"They are leaving!" Pansy gasped. "I don't believe it! You did it." Pansy was so surprised that she flopped on the carriage seats in disbelief. Julian sat down next to her, grinning widely. 

"Yep, we did," Julian said. "But I've done more exciting things than fighting off trolls." He reconsidered. "Actually, no." Pansy smiled at Julian's cheesy joke and leaned closer to him. Draco stared out the window to keep guard for any more trolls that should appear. His eyelids drooped and closed, sending him into a calm blackness.

Draco was standing in the middle of a mossy green forest. Someone was calling his name, cutting through the thick air like a herd of elephants. He swivelled around to see Narcissa, his mother, standing before him.

"Mother? Why are you here?" Draco said anxiously. It made him extremely nervous to see his mother looking pensive, which she never had been until now.

"To tell you something which has been hidden for so long," Narcissa replied. "You have the gift of Mind."

"The Gift of Mind? What's that supposed to mean?" Draco asked.

"It means, my dear, that you have telekinetic powers which can be magnified with the Moonshadow Sceptre," Narcissa said. Draco smirked. That stupid sceptre. That's why it had zapped Pansy…it was controlled by his mind!

"Excellent," Draco said. The air seemed to be filled with tiny dots of light now and the trees were slowly becoming white. Directly above Draco was a bright, sparkling pearl. He reached out to touch it and…Draco opened his eyes quickly and immediately stifled a huge yawn. What a peculiar dream he had had…Reaching into his pocket, he noticed that he still had the Moonshadow Sceptre, the very one which the trolls were fighting to get it. He examined it while holding it in his hands. It was a simple, slender sceptre, but the moonstone on top was dazzling to behold, shimmering with greens, pinks, and purples. All of a sudden, the moonstone turned a deep shade of yellow, making Draco slightly frightened. 

"Julian, get a load of this," he said. His friend did not reply. Draco looked up from the sceptre in his hands and found Julian and Pansy extremely preoccupied; it was sickening to watch for more than ten seconds. Draco cleared his throat and tried not to cringe. 

"Julian! Pansy!" he called. Both of his companions seemed to be completely deaf. Draco had no other choice but to try out the sceptre. He channelled his annoyance into the staff, thinking that he had to make them stop before he vomited. A dark blue ray of light bolted out of the sceptre and struck Julian and Pansy. Both of them froze and stayed still, looking as if they were in a trance. I wish they'd look at me, Draco thought bitterly and was surprised to see four eyes staring blankly back at him. Draco was startled. He could do that? He tried again. Stand up, he thought. Instantly Julian and Pansy got to their feet. Draco could not suppress an evil grin. He was powerful! He could control people! Oh, Harry Potter wouldn't annoy him now; he'd get the better of him. Draco started to laugh, delighted with his discovery and at the two blank faces of his companions. After a few minutes of experimenting, he thought it would be best to return them to their normal minds and consciousness. Be yourselves, he thought strongly to the two. The blank haze covering Julian and Pansy's minds faded, and they woke up confused.

"What the--?" Julian wondered as he looked around with blurry eyes. "What happened?"

"Oh, nothing," Draco said smiling to himself. Pansy looked at Julian with a dreamy smile, which was returned twice as large.

"Are any trolls following us still?" Julian asked half-heartedly. 

"No, there aren't," Draco said, "which I'm sure you would have noticed if you hadn't been so preoccupied." Julian shrugged.

"Yes, I suppose," Julian replied. "It's unusual, quite unusual."

"I know. I wanted to show you something," Draco said. "Do you remember the sceptre we found in Pansy's house?"

"Yes," Pansy and Julian said.

"It is powerful. Very powerful, indeed," Draco held out the Moonshadow sceptre proudly. To his surprise, Julian and Pansy were not that impressed as he thought they would be.

"What can it do, then?" Julian asked.

"You must explain properly," Pansy added. Draco sighed.

"As I was holding it, it turned yellow and shot a dark blue light at you two," Draco said. "I was trying to make you stop exchanging saliva, or, should I say, snogging." Julian automatically blushed. "I found out that I could control you with my mind and you would do everything I thought," he continued. Pansy gasped.

"You controlled us? How utterly horrible!" Pansy shrieked.

"I was just having some fun!" Draco shot back. "I don't get to very often."

"Don't do it again," Pansy glared at him. "It's not nice to control your friends." Draco put his hands on his hips, not planning to obey what Pansy commanded.

"I don't think you should fool around with that," Julian said. "You should only use it in times of need, since it likes to zap things," he added dryly, glancing at Pansy with a look of pity. Draco let his arms drop to his sides. Julian was right, although he hated to admit it, and Draco knew he would just use the Moonshadow sceptre in dire need. Dire need included zapping Harry Potter for all he was worth…Draco smiled slightly and sat back down on his seat to think about how much fun he would have when he got home.


	6. Endings and Beginnings

The carriage rattled, startling the three passengers

A/N: Whatever you do recognize is JK Rowling's. Whatever you do not recognize is mine. 

The Second Realm

Chapter Six: Endings and Beginnings

The carriage rattled, startling the three passengers. Julian was finishing a letter he had started to Ron, out of boredom, which covered two pieces of parchment, front and back. Draco assumed that Julian had brought Weasley up to date on his life and hoped that Julian had not mentioned him. Draco did not want to give Julian the satisfaction of knowing that he hated people writing about him. Pansy was in the middle of a long nap, but was awakened by the carriage shaking.

"Julian, who are you writing to?" Pansy asked softly, resting her head on Julian's shoulder. Draco looked out the window in disgust.

"Er, my cousin," Julian replied, closing the letter and stuffing it into his pocket. "Sadly, we don't have a dragonfly or an owl to carry it to him." Pansy sighed.

"Dragonflies are very hard to catch," she replied simply. Julian nodded.

"I take your word for it," he said, taking her hand in his own. The carriage shook again, more violently this time. Draco saw that the rocs were getting tired, flapping their wings less and less. Unfortunately, this action was making them plummet.

"Oh shit!" Draco shouted. "We're descending rapidly!"

"Draco, watch your mouth!" Pansy screamed.

"Fine thing to say when we're plummeting to our deaths!" Draco retorted. Julian looked even more panicked when he looked out the window and saw the ground coming closer and closer to them.

"We're going down. This is the end!" Julian shouted despairingly. The carriage hit the ground, jarring Pansy, Julian, and Draco, sending them bumping against the sides of it. After the sudden impact, the carriage stopped moving and the three adolescents fell to the floor. Draco felt badly bruised and the pain in his chest told him he must have bruised a rib or some other body part. He got to his feet and noticed that his two companions were conscious, luckily, but were lying on the floor.

"Julian, Pansy, get up," Draco said sharply. They did so, slowly. Draco climbed out of the battered carriage quickly and inspected where they were. Ten thousand soldiers, Imbricians, Draco noticed, stood fully clad in armor with their weapons grasped tightly in their hands. On the other side of the large field, thousands of ugly, hairy Traskin trolls grunted incoherently as they swung their arms. The Imbrix general lifted his sword into the clear blue sky.

"Necate hostes!" he bellowed.

"Unga centrifin!" the Traskin general screamed. Both the Imbricians and the Traskin trolls started running towards the center of the field, ready to kill. Draco realized with a jolt that he and his friends were caught in the middle, about to meet their unexpected fate. Closer and closer the two armies rushed, screaming curses and pointing their weapons at their enemy. Draco gripped the Moonshadow scepter quickly. Stupid people, Draco thought. They are fighting for something that they do not even have. But I do. They should stop... He continued to grip the scepter. Do not fight. Stop... The armies were coming closer and Draco could see their faces clearly now...Don't fight. He could see the yellow eyes of the trolls now and the blue eyes of the Imbrician soldiers...It would not be too long before a spear would kill him or a club...GO AWAY! The last thought he practically screamed in his mind. Power coursed him and went through the scepter, making the moonstone dazzle with the sun. Jets of lights of red, blue, green, purple, and white shot out of the scepter and burst into the many soldiers of each army. They shrieked and fell to the ground in shock. 

Soon everyone, except Draco, was on his or her knees in a hazy state of consciousness. It was about the same type of haziness that Julian and Pansy were under when Draco controlled them. He tried thinking of commands. Stand up, he thought, and everyone got to his feet. The quickness of his or her response delighted him, but commanding everyone was steadily draining his energy. Raise your right hands, Draco commanded them. Everyone lifted his or her right hands, but Draco was losing control...The scepter suddenly lost its brightness. Draco could feel the energy leaving him quickly and so he let his arms drop limp to his side. Slowly awakening from their hazy dream, the trolls and the soldiers rubbed their eyes and returned to a natural state of consciousness. It was then that Draco realized he was in deep trouble.

"What happened?" one soldier said, looking around fervently. 

"Who did that?" another one glanced at his neighbor. "Someone controlled us. I felt it." 

"Impossible, Blik," the first soldier said. "There's only one curse that does that..."

"I know, I know, Dinx, but it wasn't that," Blik whispered. "But I don't remember--"

"I do," Dinx interrupted. "Before I went all hazy, I saw jets of light come out of his stick." Dinx pointed at Draco angrily. Every Imbrician soldier turned toward the Slytherin. Draco swallowed to get the knot out of his throat.

"What are you looking at me for?" Draco tried to ask coolly, but his voice was cracking.

"You -despicable, foul maggot- controlled us with Dark magic!" Blik screamed. "He's evil! Get him!" Two strong hands gripped Draco's shoulders so tightly that he was sure he would lose all circulation in his arms.

"You insufferable gits, let me go!" Draco yelled furiously. 

"NO!" the soldiers chorused. Pansy took this moment to appear in the middle of the men.

"Let go of him!" Pansy shrieked. "He's good, I swear! Stop this insanity!"

"And who's gonna make us, little girl?" one burly soldier growled. "You? I think not."

"Oh yes I am," Pansy said. "The world needs more strong women. Let Draco go!" With that said, she slapped the burly man across the cheek quickly. The man stumbled. When he had regained his balance, he unsheathed his sword.

"You stupid wench," the soldier snarled and his nostrils flared. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He thrust his sword forward and stabbed Pansy in the abdomen. Pansy gasped and fell to the ground. Blood was spurting out of her stomach at a quickening pace and the normal peach color of her face was fading to a dull gray. It would not be long before she would die. Julian pushed through the crowd and stood over the dying girl.

"Oh no, Pansy," Julian said.

"What?" Pansy said crossly, despite the fact that she was mortally wounded. "Don't stare at me; I hate staring."

"Pansy, you're bleeding," Julian said, kneeling beside her. His hand was shaking as he gently touched her wound, getting blood on his fingertips.

"I know that," Pansy was breathing short breaths very quickly. "But…tell me one…thing," she managed to choke. Julian leaned in closer in order to hear her, with his face pale and his eyes widened in anxiety.

"What?"

"Does my hair look all right?" Pansy whispered. If the situation had not been so drastic, Draco might have laughed at her vanity. Pansy's eyes rolled back in her head and she stopped moving entirely. She was gone. Julian let a large, shuddering breath escape his lips and stood quietly. He looked Draco firmly in the eye with no trace of tears on his cheeks, but Draco noticed his breathing was very shallow.

"Draco, she's gone," Julian said quietly.

"I noticed," Draco said dryly, but it was no time for humor. They were about to be killed by the look of things. The burly soldier looked down at them, his brow dotted with beads of perspiration.

"And as for you flea-bitten rags, I think I'll kill you as well," he growled. Draco sighed. His presumptions had been correct. The soldier lifted his blood-covered sword and was about to thrust it into Draco's chest when someone yelled.

"STOP!" the voice yelled loudly. It was none other than Alexander and Katie Woolington! Draco's jaw dropped in total astonishment. Why were they here, of all places? Julian turned around and noticed his friends.

"Alexander? Katie?" Julian gasped. As Alexander and Katie ran over to Julian, Draco decided that it was now or never to act. He gathered up the remainders of his strength and grasped the Moonshadow scepter tightly. The burly soldier, Blik, and Dinx noticed his actions, however, and immediately crowded around him.

"You're not controlling us with that thing again," Blik said.

"No, you won't," Dinx added. Draco was strongly reminded of his minions Crabbe and Goyle by the way those two talked: low, dull, and raspy.

"Yes, I am," Draco said indignantly and closed his eyes. Be peaceful, be peaceful… Draco thought. He was struck by an idea that would go against everything he had been taught and the Dark Lord would get his just desserts. Go to Voldemort, he thought. Go to the Dark Lord. Instantly, every soldier and troll turned as one to the south, including Blik, Dinx, and the other soldier. When they started to walk, Draco began to grin. For a long time, he could not stop. Eventually, the armies disappeared into the horizon and continued into the unknown. Draco breathed "Yes!" through his teeth. He had done it. His power had been strong enough to control two armies. Who knew what else he could do? As of right then, Draco felt complete bliss for the first time. He turned to face his friends, all of whom were talking quietly.

"Oh, Julian, how did you ever survive?" Katie was saying. "I can't believe you were put in a vat, going to be boiled to death." She shivered. "That's awful."

"Yeah, I know," Julian said. "But we escaped, which is the good thing. By the way, how did you manage to come here?"

"We asked around and learned that Imbrix was going to war," Alexander replied. "So we followed the army a little while after they had left and ended up here."

"Oh," Julian nodded.

"I think it's best that we leave now," Draco interrupted their conversation.

"How can we do that?" Julian asked. "There's no way we can. At least, I can't see any way to get home."

"There is a way to go home," a voice muttered. Draco turned around to see Saffron Callide and Colin Moc'ri standing before him. Who knows how they got there too?

"What would that be?" Alexander wondered. Saffron smiled mischievously. 

"In order to go back to your world, you must summon the Portal," Saffron said. 

"And how do you do that?" Julian asked.

"Chant the words that summon it, of course," Saffron said, smirking. "Here, I'll do it for you." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Veni, porta, spectamus per te. Laudamus te!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco scoffed.

"It's Latin for Come, gate, we watch for you. We praise you," Alexander said. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Brilliant. Whoever made this spell was absolutely brilliant," Draco said sarcastically. His words were lost on his friends, however, because just then the air in front of them swirled and faded into black. It looked as though the sky had a large black rip. Julian's jaw dropped. Saffron pushed Katie, Alexander, and Draco near the Portal.

"Go ahead, it will take you back to your world," Saffron said.

"But where?" Julian asked. Saffron shook her head sadly.

"I don't know, Julian. Good bye," Saffron said and pushed Katie into the Portal. Alexander soon followed her leaping anxiously into it. Draco made some resistance against Saffron, but he too was thrown into the Portal. He flailed his arms, falling….

Draco crumpled to the hard ground. When he managed to get up, he noticed there were many people around him in cloaks, running around and talking busily. It was Diagon Alley. He was back in his world!

"Thank you!" he called to the sky, raising his arms in relieved delight. People around him stared at him, but Draco did not care for once. He was home. Imbrix was not the sort of land he wanted to stay in all his life, since the fairies there were cruel and prejudiced (not to mention smelly). Draco could not wait to go back to Malfoy Manor, with its many rooms, house elves, his large bedroom, and many Dark magic books. Now all he had to do was to contact his father.

"Draco! Draco!" Draco turned and saw Julian rush up towards him.

"How did we land in the same place?" Draco asked curiously. Julian shrugged.

"I don't know," he said. "Coincidence, I suppose."

"That is odd," Draco said, wrinkling his forehead thoughtfully.

"Julian! What on earth are you doing here?" a feminine voice asked in surprise. Mrs. Weasley was standing in front of the two boys with a very surprised look on her face. Next to her were Ginny, Fred, George, and (Draco scowled) Ron.

"And why are you with Malfoy?" Ron asked, frowning at the sight at Draco. Draco gave his coldest glare to the red-haired boy.

"It's a long story, but basically, I was transported here," Julian said.

"Your parents are frantic with worry," Mrs. Weasley said. "You've been missing for quite a while." Julian hung his head.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"How long have we been missing?" Draco asked. Mrs. Weasley seemed not to notice him as she clucked and fussed over Julian. "How _long_ have we been missing?" he tried again.

"Two weeks," Mrs. Weasley said instantly, but the look she gave him was not filled with warmth and love that she had given Julian. That, perhaps, was because he was related and Draco was not.

"Two weeks?" Julian said incredulously. "So now it's in the middle of the summer?" Ron and Ginny nodded at the same time while Fred and George neared Julian, gave him pats on the back, and rumpled his hair.

"It's been a while, little cousin," Fred said, grinning.

"What have you been up to?" George asked. "Anything interesting?" Julian considered.

"Well, I did get thrown into a pot of boiling water," he said.

"You did? Ouch," Fred said, cringing.

"Awful," George agreed. While the Weasleys and Julian were talking, Draco was looking desperately for his father. Then a thought occurred to him: why would his father be in a place that he despised? Lucius Malfoy and Diagon Alley did not mix. He had about given up hope of finding his father when he heard a soft noise behind him. Draco turned around and saw his father standing on the wet pavement.

"There you are, Draco," Lucius said quietly and coldly. Draco's insides curled and withered into strands. He knew his father was extremely angry with him by the way that Lucius's cheek muscle was twitching.

"Hello, Father," Draco said as cheerfully as he could. Julian heard Draco saying this and immediately turned around, looking at both Draco and Lucius.

"You will come with me to the Manor," Lucius commanded. Draco opened his mouth to speak.

"Not yet, Father," Draco said nervously, grabbing the edges of his sleeves, "but in a minute."

"Why do you want to stay?" Lucius snapped. "I cannot wait here all day, Draco."

"Don't worry, Father," Draco said coolly. Lucius appeared shocked at Draco's unemotional statement. Draco looked at Julian then and smiled.

"Draco," Lucius warned. Draco smiled at his father, nearly giving the elder man a cardiac arrest. 'Draco has never been so friendly until now. I do _not_ like it,' Lucius thought.

"Father," Draco said, looking seriously at his father now, "I'd like you to meet my friend Julian Earlingston."

"Ah yes, the distinguished mister Earlingston," Lucius's voice was dripping in sarcasm. "You're the one who wanted to stay at Malfoy Manor?"

"Yes, sir," Julian said. "Or, if not, Draco can stay at my house." 

"You may stay at the Manor for as long as you wish," Lucius said elegantly. Draco gaped at his father. Never, _ever_ before had Lucius agreed to anything that Draco wanted to do.

"Thank you, Father," Draco murmured. Julian grinned widely.

"I'm being very generous," Lucius said. "Be grateful."

"Yes, Father," Draco replied. "I'm very grateful." He turned and strolled to the Malfoy carriage with Julian. After Lucius sat down and the carriage door closed, Draco noticed that there was a sinister smile on his father's face.

Ending Author's Note: That's the end! (Or is it?) Please read and review! :o)

*Elfin Queen*


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